Gran Turismo World Series (Nations Cup 2025 Exhibition Season 3: 15 Oct - 1 Nov)

[Moose78]

Moose78 - do you plan to do your detailed breakdown? Really helpful when it comes to pick a proper car

I'm not sure, but I doubt it. Looking at the multipliers, I expect any strategy will be dictated by the weather more than anything else. If you end up in a dry race, I'm guessing it will just be a straight-ahead sprint, with tires and fuel not being an issue in any car. If you get rain, you'll need to decide when to switch tires based on the conditions.

Besides, I don't know if I'd have enough time to do all those tests, even if I wanted to.

I am planning to try all the cars at least. I'll be paying attention to the top speed on the straights, and watching for any disqualifying quirks in how the cars drive in the wet.

My approach is likely going to be to pick the car with the highest top speed and hope to find another driver in my race to bump draft down the straights to get away from everybody else.

 

[Bondwhar]

I'm not sure, but I doubt it. Looking at the multipliers, I expect any strategy will be dictated by the weather more than anything else. If you end up in a dry race, I'm guessing it will just be a straight-ahead sprint, with tires and fuel not being an issue in any car. If you get rain, you'll need to decide when to switch tires based on the conditions.

Besides, I don't know if I'd have enough time to do all those tests, even if I wanted to.

I am planning to try all the cars at least. I'll be paying attention to the top speed on the straights, and watching for any disqualifying quirks in how the cars drive in the wet.

My approach is likely going to be to pick the car with the highest top speed and hope to find another driver in my race to bump draft down the straights to get away from everybody else.

Moose, thanks for all your help in the last race, I for 1 was really grateful and certainly helped me with my race management.
🥳💪🏻

 

[Zorz]

Hell, make it nighttime too. This has already been a season of evil combos, might as well go out with a bang.

Looks like my wish came true. Running practice laps and it turned dark during lap 2, then got sunrise around lap 5. I think we're getting the full 24 hour experience.

Now I just need to try not get distracted and crash. Le Mans looks gorgeous at night in VR.

And if anyone gets rain at night, good luck!

 

[VTEC Driver]

I tried all the cars and the Nismo for me is impossible to drive.
I have a continuous and strong oscillation of the wheel… very unpleasant. It remembers me the issue happened some months ago and then solved with an update. I have that only with this car.
It is also strange when I accelerate having the car sliding on all 4 wheels.

However I will go with Porsche that for me is faster than the other two remained and quite nice to drive.
I did some simulations and fuel and tire duration are not a problem at all.
So the only question mark is about the rain and how much strong it will be…

 

[Zorz]

I tried all the cars and the Nismo for me is impossible to drive.
I have a continuous and strong oscillation of the wheel… very unpleasant. It remembers me the issue happened some months ago and then solved with an update. I have that only with this car.
It is also strange when I accelerate having the car sliding on all 4 wheels.

You're not alone there. I tried it and quickly found it very uncomfortable because my wheel starts rattling like crazy, even after knocking the torque setting down a couple of levels. The lap times aren't bad, but I'm not up for fighting with my rig for 24-25 minutes. It's also a little strange to drive in VR since the cockpit is so far back from the front of the car. I had to consciously tell myself to brake earlier than expected.

I'm going with the Audi myself. It's the car I've had the fastest lap with and the cockpit is nice with a rear view camera above the windscreen.

 

[Moose78]

I just did a rainy 7-lap session in Free Practice driving the Audi. I noticed a few things.

To start with, the rain hardly accumulates while the track is under the lightest blue level in the weather radar. My first lap was entirely under light blue and the moisture gauge only showed a sliver -- maybe 10% -- at the end of it.

That changes when a darker blue portion hits the track. It seems to keep accumulating until it gets to the second tick on the moisture gauge.

A green patch can push it over the second tick mark into the blue zone.

There seems to be a definite hard line where the rain stops. The radar shows a straight line clipping the rain, with a totally blank black section afterwards. For me, this hit on lap 3. There was no rain after that.

The track dried very slowly. The moisture gauge was around the second tick when it stopped raining and only fell to around 50% by the end of lap 7.

 

[tmtk]

Did a few 7-lap sessions with the Nissan, mostly dry or light rain (green area on the radar) and even up to first tick of the moisture gauge the mediums are pretty manageable, doing laps like 3:34-3:36. Less when it's dry.
Too bad we can't test other tires under the exact same conditions, but I feel like IMs wouldn't be faster.

Only once I was in a darker patch of rain and immediately ran straight at Indianapolis, no way to stop the car.

Nissan hits over 300 km/h on the straights, around 307 on the downhill to Indianapolis (running AT), I ran other cars only briefly but I think it's the fastest one?

I wonder if qualifying will be a scripted dry and then random scenario for the race (like it was in Spa earlier this year)?
When and how to decide what tires to wear for the start?

And yeah, it will be a penalty galore!
Dunlop esses as always, and Tertre Rouge - in the dark I see apex only when it's already too late, so turning on hunch...

 

[harryschell]

Had some time last night when the new event clicked over and ran only dry weather to get used to the 919 here. Quickly got a 3:31.8. Came back tonight for more dry practice and now it's at 3:31.081 after two hours of trying for "that' lap. I'll make sure to do a good amount of weather and time transition practice now. The Group C cars from a few weeks back made for great experience with the elements as a start, and the dark will something really important to acclimatize to again.

 

[Bondwhar]

You're not alone there. I tried it and quickly found it very uncomfortable because my wheel starts rattling like crazy, even after knocking the torque setting down a couple of levels. The lap times aren't bad, but I'm not up for fighting with my rig for 24-25 minutes. It's also a little strange to drive in VR since the cockpit is so far back from the front of the car. I had to consciously tell myself to brake earlier than expected.

I'm going with the Audi myself. It's the car I've had the fastest lap with and the cockpit is nice with a rear view camera above the windscreen.

Pheeew, I thought it was just me! That car causes my Thrusty TG-2 to feel like I'm fighting a very strong Octopus 🐙. Also in VR the car is soooo long I felt I was turning an Ocean going Oil tanker not a car 😳. Porsche for me Saturday, might be slower but at least I won't be in A&E post race 🫣
Kept getting a lap infringement towards the end of the 2nd straight as I went round the right hander and for the life of me I can't see how!!!
Best of luck everyone 🏎️🥳

 

[dazdilly75]

Glad I'm not the only one experiencing what I believe is torque steer, with the Nissan. This shouldn't be happening with a 4WD car but it seems that it's kept it's original FF characteristics. Either way it's very odd and I have absolutely no confidence in it, especially if it rains. I found the Audi to have the best overall ability of speed and handling. I won at Monza in the 962C (which was a surprise) so I'm hoping that my form will continue with the LMP1 category. I've avoided the RB races this season, so only 4 of my races will count. The fact they've made it 5 out of 6 races count toward the final total and given us 2 RB races, means they've tried to shoehorn us into that abomination of a car. So my boycott has been very purposeful. Anyway, hopefully the Manufacturers Cup will start soon after this last round of Nations. Good luck to everyone taking part, I hope you've had a good season and collected some nice points.

 

[ZEE]

Hey guys, here is my fifth round highlights video of my Race at Lago Maggiorrre with the Peugeot RCZ gr.3, this was overall good race with not too much incident. I look forward to Round 6 but it may be a choppy one listening to other drivers feedbck regardring Le-mans. Heres goes!

 

[Bondwhar]

1st clean lap in practice mode for Round 6. Don’t be to harsh as I’m a very low DRB racer 💪🏻🤣

 

[FlapJackFlash]

Not looking forward to the next one as haven't had much time to practice and every single free practice has been rain. Tried the nismo but seemed to always crash at Indianapolis and don't have the time to really try out each car. Porsche seems to work ok for me so might just stick with that. Still can't seem to put together a lap without penalties though as terte rouge is my nemisis and with no tyre rules I can't hope for my usual place advantage by others making mistakes.

 

[MetalApe]

Not looking forward to the next one as haven't had much time to practice and every single free practice has been rain. Tried the nismo but seemed to always crash at Indianapolis and don't have the time to really try out each car. Porsche seems to work ok for me so might just stick with that. Still can't seem to put together a lap without penalties though as terte rouge is my nemisis and with no tyre rules I can't hope for my usual place advantage by others making mistakes.

I was about to say the same about the Nismo, even in the dry it spins on the kink into Indianapolis. I'm sticking with the Porsche as well, it feels good, and not enough time to practice the others.

 

[Famine]

This shouldn't be happening with a 4WD car but it seems that it's kept it's original FF characteristics.

Fundamentally, it is FF. It just sometimes isn't.

The update reverted the car to basically what it was intended to be - if the technology planned for it either worked or actually existed (it didn't). That means the V6 engine sent about 550hp to the 14-inch wide front tyres, while the (largely fictional) flywheel hybrid system could deliver up to another 750hp out of corners (I think engaging around 100-120mph)... and that was a 50:50 split, with half going to the front wheels and half going to the 9-inch wide rear tyres. So you're looking at a car which had 550hp to the front wheels all the time, with potentially over 900hp some of the time and a bit over 350hp to the rears some of the time. And even the rear torque was limited because it had a whole bunch of additional clutches and gearboxes to get up and around the huge tunnels through the car.

Of course it didn't really work and didn't technically exist, and the 8MJ was downgraded to 2MJ, and then removed (the system remained in place, but didn't function), and without the ability to harvest energy the brakes were insufficient so they needed bigger ones which meant bigger front wheels to fit over them, so they couldn't run the wide tyres and that also required redesigning the front suspension (also the big tyres had big sidewalls) increasing stresses and basically it's a miracle that one of them made it even as far as it did. The concept was fine if the flywheel hybrid had worked/existed, as it trapped pretty fast during the test day at 209mph, despite lumbering through the corners.


But I digress. 550hp FWD most of the time, 70:30ish front-biased AWD some of the time (usually when you're not steering).

 

[dazdilly75]

Hey guys, here is my fifth round highlights video of my Race at Lago Maggiorrre with the Peugeot RCZ gr.3, this was overall good race with not too much incident. I look forward to Round 6 but it may be a choppy one listening to other drivers feedbck regardring Le-mans. Heres goes!

Fundamentally, it is FF. It just sometimes isn't.

The update reverted the car to basically what it was intended to be - if the technology planned for it either worked or actually existed (it didn't). That means the V6 engine sent about 550hp to the 14-inch wide front tyres, while the (largely fictional) flywheel hybrid system could deliver up to another 750hp out of corners (I think engaging around 100-120mph)... and that was a 50:50 split, with half going to the front wheels and half going to the 9-inch wide rear tyres. So you're looking at a car which had 550hp to the front wheels all the time, with potentially over 900hp some of the time and a bit over 350hp to the rears some of the time. And even the rear torque was limited because it had a whole bunch of additional clutches and gearboxes to get up and around the huge tunnels through the car.

Of course it didn't really work and didn't technically exist, and the 8MJ was downgraded to 2MJ, and then removed (the system remained in place, but didn't function), and without the ability to harvest energy the brakes were insufficient so they needed bigger ones which meant bigger front wheels to fit over them, so they couldn't run the wide tyres and that also required redesigning the front suspension (also the big tyres had big sidewalls) increasing stresses and basically it's a miracle that one of them made it even as far as it did. The concept was fine if the flywheel hybrid had worked/existed, as it trapped pretty fast during the test day at 209mph, despite lumbering through the corners.


But I digress. 550hp FWD most of the time, 70:30ish front-biased AWD some of the time (usually when you're not steering).

Incredible knowledge Famine. That makes so much sense, and explains why the car feels so unstable. I've seen the top drivers are able to make it work, but I'm afraid my skill limit is exposed, when I'm behind the wheel. I'll definitely be sticking with the R18 for the final round. Cheers for the heads up!

 

[tmtk]

Not looking forward to the next one as haven't had much time to practice and every single free practice has been rain. Tried the nismo but seemed to always crash at Indianapolis and don't have the time to really try out each car. Porsche seems to work ok for me so might just stick with that. Still can't seem to put together a lap without penalties though as terte rouge is my nemisis and with no tyre rules I can't hope for my usual place advantage by others making mistakes.

I was about to say the same about the Nismo, even in the dry it spins on the kink into Indianapolis. I'm sticking with the Porsche as well, it feels good, and not enough time to practice the others.

Yeah, I have experienced it too (Nismo dance at kink before Indianapolis).
I don't know your type of input (I'm 1997 style, buttons all the way), but it's impossible for me to go flat out there.
Lifting at this point helps a little, but it is sometimes still possible to loose it.
The best way for me is a tiny dab of the brakes before the kink, then the car seems more stable over the turn.
It is a vulnerability in a race but given the speed advantage of the Nissan I think it is still the best way.

 

[MIE1992]

I'm pretty amazed that in the top free practice times, it seems like pretty much all the cars in this particular selection are well-balanced - that is, except for the TS050, which doesn't seem to have as much of a presence on the leaderboard. If I'm able to do this final round at Le Mans tomorrow, I'll likely use the 919 since I recall using it previously for a similar event.

More specifically, I recall it being a race also being held at Le Mans, but without any dynamic weather - though there was a mandatory pit stop. That said, the fuel consumption and tire wear was slow enough that all you needed to do was a pass-through, so I gained at least a couple positions upon finishing since some racers didn't get the memo. Genuinely loving the expectation of dynamic weather for this next round, though!

Plus, even if I'm unable to make this round, I already have five rounds registered. That said, it'd be nice if I end up doing well enough at this final round to replace my worst score by a notable margin...

 

[Leonidas_Owen]

In Nation cup Exibithion 3 I won a race, This is my first victory!!!

 

[Bondwhar]

Sure goes dark quick 😳

 

[Moose78]

Sure goes dark quick 😳

According to GT-Engine, this race is using a 53x time multiplier. Suppose it doesn't take long when the clock is moving a minute per second.

FWIW, I'll probably be driving the NISMO for this one, too. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, though.

I tried all the others in Free Practice, but I was fastest in the NISMO by a considerable margin. On top speed, the Audi was comparable, but I was more than a second slower over a lap in it than the NISMO.

I ran into the slide at Indianapolis, too. I found that keeping the car at full throttle until it gets to the end of the curbing on the kink keeps it stable. It does make braking for the corner a bit more... err... thrilling... than some drivers might be comfortable with (myself included).

I find the long gears of the 5-speed transmission make it feel a lot like driving one of the Gr.C cars. There were several times when downshifting into a corner that I thought I still had another gear to go only to find I was already in first.

I haven't tried any laps yet with tire and fuel multipliers turned on. I'm hoping to get to that tonight before and/or after the trick-or-treaters are out.

Happy Halloween, and best of luck to everybody in their races tomorrow.

 

[Moose78]

I ran into the slide at Indianapolis, too. I found that keeping the car at full throttle until it gets to the end of the curbing on the kink keeps it stable. It does make braking for the corner a bit more... err... thrilling... than some drivers might be comfortable with (myself included).

I take that back. I have no idea how to avoid sliding out of that corner. I just tried a full custom race with tire and fuel multipliers in the NISMO and in 2 of the 7 laps, I lost it on that corner and went careening in the wall for full engine damage. That's not going to work.

So I'm looking for a new car to drive. I did another full race in the Toyota. It's good in the corners, but it's just too slow on the straights. Without another car around to catch a slipstream, it's just going to struggle.

I feel like the Porsche would be the same.

Time to give the Audi another look, it seems.

 

[tmtk]

I take that back. I have no idea how to avoid sliding out of that corner. I just tried a full custom race with tire and fuel multipliers in the NISMO and in 2 of the 7 laps, I lost it on that corner and went careening in the wall for full engine damage. That's not going to work.

You got me worried for a while.
I quickly found a lobby with Nations training and ran a full race (albeit only dry) with the right multipliers.
Fortunately my method still works, did not crash a single time. Many Porsches and Toyotas in the lobby (almost all with higher DR than me) and I was able to gap them on the straights, so the Nissan's speed advantage is real.
They destroyed me in the corners, but well... A, A+ - no surprise. 😅

 

[FlapJackFlash]

EMEA GT2 1st Slot all A lobby

Had done a few lobby races before with the Nismo and Porsche and decided on the Porsche as felt more stable. Then noticed the Toyotas were always faster than me on the straights, so had a 15 min try before the race and decided to switch to that instead after getting a 3.31.

Qualifying was dry and managed 5th place with the pole sitter about 3 seconds ahead. Weather radar showed rain but just stopping by the start of the race and the track info said 0% surface water so I thought I'd risk keeping the M on as in dry practice you can keep a decent speed up until the first wet bar and then hope I could gain places on people pit changing.

Turns out the track surface % was a complete lie (not the first time this has happened) and the track was soaking. Tried to see if I can nurse the car around until it dries up but that didn't really happen until lap 3 by which point I'd had many many crashes and was over a minute behind everyone else so even people changing to M didn't help anything at that point. Very frustrating as I don't understand what more I can do to check the weather than the weather map and the track surface %.

Went again in the next slot, Qualifying dry again and another 5th place (with a penalty!). Top 3 zoomed away in the nismos and audi, then the battle for 4th was between 4 cars. Was some close racing, I got myself up for 4th but then picked up 2 penalties dropping me to 6th, then made a mistake on the last corner, allowing the car behind to just pass me at the line.

Don't think I've got the energy to go again so will leave it at that.

 

[stpatty]

Seven years of driving for Nissan in these championships, I'm driving the long boi even if I have to wring its neck all day. Let's go.

 

[stpatty]

What's the deal with the gears/shifting in the GT-R? The replay of the top time on the leaderboard shifts straight from 3rd to 5th.

 

[VTEC Driver]

EMEA GT2 - 10:00 Slot - Q5/P2

I decided for Porsche because Nismo is undriveable to me.
Qualify with medium with a "meh" lap (1:35), quite below my capacity (1:31:9).

Checked the radar I saw rain coming in 1/2 laps but started with medium.
Some crasches at T2 as expected gave me immediately P3 and at the first chicane I was already in P2.

Ending the first lap I saw rain coming, very light but later some dark blue area were expected.
I decided to pit immediately for a safe race and it was too early, I back on track in P10 with also penalty of 3 sec for cutting pit line...
At lap 3 rain was relevant e people start pittig for IM and I took some positions because my speed with IM was quite good and now in P5 again.

Rain till lap 4/5 were I was capable to overtake a couple of cars.
I decided to keep IM after the rain and cooling them every moment possible changing to wet trajectory.
Someone decided to change again to M, most probably the tires were destroyed by dried trajectory and I was in P2 again.

Managed the distance of the follower to above 10 seconds i finished in P2, 12 seconds behind the P1.

The only good thing is that I am back to B level, after having lost it for some disconnection and a couple of very bad races...

 

[tmtk]

US first slot, GT2, door 13, 117 points for the win, Nismo.

Initial thought: Holy you-know-what! Such strong lobby again. But after last few races where I've gained some serious DR, could've expected it. Moose on the grid again (👋).

I don't know what happened in the qualifying session with all those drivers (maybe penalties?), but I qualified 2nd (with 32.2)!
Let's talk about pressure building...
Race was bone dry.

My start was dismal, huge wheelspin, lost the 2nd spot at once. Then some very nervous corners, 0,5 second penalty and more places lost. Moose in front. Lap 2, I stabilized a little after the driver behind lost some time due to a penalty, I could calmly build my rhythm. One position gained due to a driver spinning out of last corner.
Had a small gap to the guy in 3rd and some breathing space behind (they were fighting for 5th so naturally loosing time).

Laps 3-6 very cool driving, only very minor mistakes. Caught up with the Moose for a split second only for one friendly bump draft on the straight. He was escaping me through most corners.

Last lap was again a bit nervous, penalty on Tertre Rouge and a second one in the chicane, but there was over 4 seconds of space behind, so I brought it home.

4th and 103 points - my first centenary on this account!

 

[stpatty]

Was 3rd, should've been 3rd, bottled the Porsche curves on the last lap (the car just did not turn in at the start), ended up 6th. ****ed it. No idea how to go through the Ford chicanes in this thing either, it feels like I'm driving the car through a minefield.

 

[Zorz]

Note to self: Don't tempt fate wishing for dark, wet races again in future. Oh my god.
Second note to self: If there is a dark, wet race in future and you don't practice much for said race, you're a maniac.

I spent most of yesterday and today playing the new Path of Exile season. I should have done more practice, so much more practice. This was the hardest race I've ever done in VR, by far. It's not even close. There's just no visibility between the dark, other cars and the spray.

I qualified P14 and the dice gave me the wet race, but it needed a minute to wet the track enough. At least one person was caught out by it and binned it down the Mulsanne when it crept over the cutoff.

My pace was just bad all round and I picked up a few track limits penalties, but I fluked my way into finishing P7 because several people decided to pit for Mediums at the end of lap 4 after the track started drying. I have no idea what they were thinking as there was still a huge amount of water to keep the Intermediates alive and pit stops at Le Mans take forever, but I'll take the 203 points and get the hell out of there. That beats my current lowest score and there's no way I'm scoring that high again unless there's some utterly ridiculous incident.

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