Gran Turismo 7 Custom Race thread

[Voodoovaj]

I have two points that I want to bring up.

Point 1 - Several months (years?) ago I mentioned Sega's Super Monaco GP and how the point of that game was to beat your rival, and not necessarily win the races. I've been using that as a core sentiment in my race set ups, which is why I avoid using a rabbit, and I find this works really well for both Sophy and Reggie races. It feels like you are racing people.

What I do is give a handful of cars an "unfair" advantage, like 5-10pp more. As an example, in my DTM setup, I have 2 engine swapped Mercs with 5 extra pp (655pp), which makes them fast and fuel efficient. I also engine swapped 2 Sierras with 5 extra pp (665pp), which again makes them more fuel efficient and a little faster. You just have to be careful to set up the races and fuel usage so every car has to stop 1 time. Regular engine cars stop mid race, swaps stop near the end of the race. I go with 4x fuel and roughly 30 minute races.

Point 2 - I was thinking about sharing custom races and thought "why CAN'T this happen?". If WE share a race, it should be no different than the way single player races work. PD creates a race, they set the car settings, and the liveries, and voila. We could do the same. The only issue I can see is the licensing of the liveries that we use (cigarette advertising, alcohol, and general licensing). Maybe there could be a generic "race livery" option for sharing, something like the liveries on the F3500, that way the licensing issues are irrelevant. It could even be an automatic thing that happens when a custom race is shared. Just a thought.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Oh, another thing, F3500 races.

I am finding these to be the best custom races, even with Reggie (surprisingly with Reggie)

What I do is I try to match the car to the real world power specs and transmission specs. In the early 90's there were many engines, and the transmissions were in transition from H pattern hand shifted to sequential shift paddles.

For example, the Benetton B192 had an H pattern but the B193 had a semi automatic. The top teams had the best equipment, so for the best cars I use the full race transmission, for the midpack cars I use the standard transmission, and for cars that should have had some type of manual (or likewise slower shifting transmission) I use the Semi-race transmission. For example, I have Alain Prost Ferrari from 1991 and it has the semi-race transmission because the real car had an H pattern gearbox.

For the engines, I tune them down for the given application. For example, cars with the Mugen V10 get the V12 tuned down to about 735 hp. Also, the early 90's Mugen V10 was often mated to a manual or 'slower" gearbox (because Mugen V10s were not used by top teams).

The only balance limitation I use is a 102% rule. I have a few laps I set with a Renault equipped car, and all the bells and whistles, and my other cars need to be at least within 102% of the lap time. This can means a big variation in PP across the field, and as a result, GREAT racing.

Now, I have kind of gone off the deep end with it, swapping engines all over the place, but MAN is it ever worth it. We never had an F1 game this good when these cars were current. Also, nice side effect, because the top teams are already super fast, you should not experience the extreme rubber banding. If you set it up to be a fair race, you should end up pitting around the same time as the others, and even Reggie is super fast with the best cars.

Try it. It's super fun. I'll post a Reggie video later.

 

[GTvsForza]

Oh, another thing, F3500 races.

I am finding these to be the best custom races, even with Reggie (surprisingly with Reggie)

What I do is I try to match the car to the real world power specs and transmission specs. In the early 90's there were many engines, and the transmissions were in transition from H pattern hand shifted to sequential shift paddles.

For example, the Benetton B192 had an H pattern but the B193 had a semi automatic. The top teams had the best equipment, so for the best cars I use the full race transmission, for the midpack cars I use the standard transmission, and for cars that should have had some type of manual (or likewise slower shifting transmission) I use the Semi-race transmission. For example, I have Alain Prost Ferrari from 1991 and it has the semi-race transmission because the real car had an H pattern gearbox.

For the engines, I tune them down for the given application. For example, cars with the Mugen V10 get the V12 tuned down to about 735 hp. Also, the early 90's Mugen V10 was often mated to a manual or 'slower" gearbox (because Mugen V10s were not used by top teams).

The only balance limitation I use is a 102% rule. I have a few laps I set with a Renault equipped car, and all the bells and whistles, and my other cars need to be at least within 102% of the lap time. This can means a big variation in PP across the field, and as a result, GREAT racing.

Now, I have kind of gone off the deep end with it, swapping engines all over the place, but MAN is it ever worth it. We never had an F1 game this good when these cars were current. Also, nice side effect, because the top teams are already super fast, you should not experience the extreme rubber banding. If you set it up to be a fair race, you should end up pitting around the same time as the others, and even Reggie is super fast with the best cars.

Try it. It's super fun. I'll post a Reggie video later.

View attachment 1513002

If someone can make replica tunes and liveries, I might try this out.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Nothing I do with Reggie makes it seem like real people. Also Sophy sometimes shows how its not real by always taking weird lines. It's better, but for most of the tracks it's disappointing.

 

[Voodoovaj]

If someone can make replica tunes and liveries, I might try this out.

I have a BOATLOAD on my profile, so go follow me. I wish there was an easier way to do it, like sharing profiles, but it is what it is. If you search for the cars, you should see my name, and then you can find my gallery. I made everything is this video except for Frentzen's Sauber.

Here's 5 laps around Fuji. FYI, save the v10 Renault swap for your front running cars. Because of the torque, you won't be able to turn the power down enough to make one a back marker. V12s and v8 work well together. I use a random number generator to choose start positions (I wish that was part of the custom race menu)

 

[pritchyTim]

I have a BOATLOAD on my profile, so go follow me. I wish there was an easier way to do it, like sharing profiles, but it is what it is. If you search for the cars, you should see my name, and then you can find my gallery. I made everything is this video except for Frentzen's Sauber.

Here's 5 laps around Fuji. FYI, save the v10 Renault swap for your front running cars. Because of the torque, you won't be able to turn the power down enough to make one a back marker. V12s and v8 work well together. I use a random number generator to choose start positions (I wish that was part of the custom race menu)

for bulk replica-ing and sharing liveries, maybe link to your gran-turismo.com profile, where others can add to their collections. One more, create a unique tag for yourself, or for your various livery series (e.g. #vdvliv or #vdvliv90sF1) and then you can get all of them with a single search. I’ve recently begun tagging my stuff with #custim, to advertise. This game would be SO much less, for me, without people’s amazing liveries!

Also, while it’s worth giving your fellow custom racer your business, @GTvsForza, I’m sure there are dozens of ‘90s F1 replica liveries out there by now

Nothing like hitting that wall where you’ve made 3/4 of a grid and run out of dress-up options! Though it HAS forced my artistic hand in a couple of cases, and I’m proud of the consequences…

 

[05XR8]

It’s where the Styles would make sense to transfer everything from a User’s car. We have to pay for the extra body parts, might as well pay for all the performance parts and duplicates that car’s settings.

 

[Voodoovaj]

for bulk replica-ing and sharing liveries, maybe link to your gran-turismo.com profile, where others can add to their collections.

I've tried that in the past but it doesn't seem to work as they intended. Here's my link. Good luck.

https://www.gran-turismo.com/us/gt7/user/mymenu/3e17f748-e4df-41f5-97b2-44e4d0f9f330/profile

I think PD under estimates the value of the social aspect of the game. It should be WAY easier to view the in game profile of players who share content.

 

[Voodoovaj]

I'm working on a decade of F1.

The F3500's work as replicas (to varying degrees) of cars from 1990-2000. I was a big fan of F1 games in the 90's, and with the right set up, Gran Turismo can play as well, if not better than those games from the 90's. Sure, we don't have all the tracks, and we can't add engine failure (which is in the game, but under utilized). I am in the middle of putting together 1995.
Now, I am taking some shortcuts. Since some of the cars would be effectively unchanged (primarily McLaren and Ferrari) from one year to the next, I can repeat some. Also, I only need 10 cars per year since most teams had two cars.

This does give me some opportunity to make some of the less common liveries. I'm also looking at more ways of differentiating the cars beyond Horsepower. I think ARB seems to be a quick and dirty way to make each car feel different.

 

[05XR8]

Loved the first and second F1 PS1 games. The intro felt so real and grown up at the time.

 

[XSquareStickIt]

It’s where the Styles would make sense to transfer everything from a User’s car. We have to pay for the extra body parts, might as well pay for all the performance parts and duplicates that car’s settings.

I can't wait for the day where we can share custom races with a full grid of McLaren F1s with every upgrade part installed and make people pay for them 🤣

 

[Buckethead75]

I am having good fun recreating late 90s Le Mans 24 hours with 10 laps races with a full field of Group Cs (BoP on). It's just a shame PD made the 787B overpowered, it is way too fast in straight line compared to real life. The opposite can be said about the Sauber C9, the thing hit 400km/h IRL but is super slow in GT.

 

[Voodoovaj]

I am having good fun recreating late 90s Le Mans 24 hours with 10 laps races with a full field of Group Cs (BoP on). It's just a shame PD made the 787B overpowered, it is way too fast in straight line compared to real life. The opposite can be said about the Sauber C9, the thing hit 400km/h IRL but is super slow in GT.

Ya, I use an 800pp limit and I nerf the 787, but I need to buff the Merc to 815pp. I use the Nissan as the reference for the others. I bring the weight up to match and I also reduce the downforce on all cars to make them more balanced.


Also, here's a 5 lap vid of my 1990 F1 setup.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Here's my 1991 and 1995 set up in action. I have 1992 and 1994 done, just not uploaded.





I'm working on 1996

BTW, I used a random number generator to pick ARB numbers. Makes the cars act a little different. Also, I set up the races with 10X tire wear which seems to work better than fuel stops.

 

[Voodoovaj]

1992


1993


and 1994 - This one is great. I drove the Minardi starting near the back and I spent most of the race fighting with Mark Blundell. Wow, that AI Blundell would not give up (until lap 5 where he literally gave up 😒). I also shift focus to David Coulthard who falls down the order a little, but makes his way back up.


It's strange. Obviously Reggie CAN be good. And, of course, we know that Sophy can be very interesting. I can't help feeling like they don't have any direction on this, or maybe a very poor direction on this, because sometimes it's really good by accident.

 

[05XR8]

Exactly what I been saying. It’s probably, kind of logically, the better the grip, the better Reggie performs.

I’m still having. A hard time moving up the field using the Mustang AR. I’ve done a GT3 race at CGV with the AMG, 296, Huracan and GT3 R. Ten minutes, Full damage, Grid start 20th position and I used TCS 1 & 2 after the start. I misjudged a slow moving 296 halfway down the back straight(it got baulked by an aggressively passing GT3 R). Clipped it and had to pit to repair, as did a few other cars. AI were quick out of corners in these cars. A steady 1.7 second gap to the car ahead and 2 seconds to the car behind. Only managed to close the gap in the last two laps and I finished 13th.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Exactly what I been saying. It’s probably, kind of logically, the better the grip, the better Reggie performs.

I’m still having. A hard time moving up the field using the Mustang AR. I’ve done a GT3 race at CGV with the AMG, 296, Huracan and GT3 R. Ten minutes, Full damage, Grid start 20th position and I used TCS 1 & 2 after the start. I misjudged a slow moving 296 halfway down the back straight(it got baulked by an aggressively passing GT3 R). Clipped it and had to pit to repair, as did a few other cars. AI were quick out of corners in these cars. A steady 1.7 second gap to the car ahead and 2 seconds to the car behind. Only managed to close the gap in the last two laps and I finished 13th.

Ya, and I am going to start throwing away the idea of "balance". I don't think it matters against the AI the way it does against people. The AI, both Reggie and Sophy, have potential if PD would just give them the desire to win and not worry so much about them having accidents.


Here is another 1997 race because I (pretty much) finished the field of cars. I reused the Ferrari that I patterned after Schumacher's F1-2000, and I reused the Ligier instead of making a Prost. But, I did make Hill's Arrows A18 and the Stewart SF01 (which I use in the video).

 

[Alfa Romeo GT]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since... maybe the Powerpack DLC, custom races against Sophy with low boost seem clearly more difficult, right?

Where it shocked me the most was on my favorite track, the Nordschleife, which I grind on in absolutely every sim...

I had a few favorite vehicles, notably the S2000, the Clio RS Trophy, the Peugeot RCZ, and the Alpine A110... Some of these cars lacked power on the straights because the balancing in these races was pretty questionable, but I was able to catch up to Sophy thanks to the excellent chassis of the cars mentioned and my perfect knowledge of the track.

Except that now, even in corners of the nurb, I'm having more trouble keeping them on track, even though the AI doesn't ride the curbs like I do.

Either they're better... or I'm getting older.

In any case, I like it.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Either they're better... or I'm getting older.

In any case, I like it.

Ya, I think something has changed that they haven't fully revealed. It isn't just Sophy.

In fact, I was coming to share this. I am working on 1998 in my F1 series. I still have to make a new Arrows and Minardi to make it a bit more accurate, but I tested the new Williams. For context, the McLaren, Ferrari, and Jordan all hae the V10 swap with full race transmission. The Williams (which was down on power in 1998) has a v12 swap with a bit of a power downgrade and the regular transmission. Damage is on, so I can't just send it. 5 laps, and try as I might, I could not pass Damon Hill.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I haven't noticed any difference. 🤷‍♂️

 

[05XR8]

I remember someone saying a while back the One Make races are a procession. I mean, I did have a few before a couple updates ago, but I run my car identical to both AI. Though I did try various wights between cars with the D-Tuned cars, I still don’t nerf my car to AI.
Running these Alfas, AI are spread all over the track. Passing, choosing different lines. It’s been the same in all my races except the failed Abarth 500 One Make. These MiTO are at 163 BHP/938 kg, 5.1 final drive/222 kmh, RH, slammed suspensions maximum springs with soft dampers.

The Deep Forest race with Damage On. The Catalunya race is with Damage Off. AI are still aggressively passing, defending with the regular Boost Weak/Professional settings.

 

[Voodoovaj]

I haven't noticed any difference. 🤷‍♂️

I don't think it's across the board (because I have only noticed it with my F1 grid so far). It seems to be better if you let the game "balance" the race. What we think of as "balance" has to be thrown out the window. Let the game do the balancing for you. I think we have all noticed that cars starting at the front of a grid tend to finish/perform better than the ones at the back. So, I might rework my races now to remove/reduce the balance that I have imposed.

I am having a GREAT time with my F1 grids, but I have set up the cars to emulate their real world counterparts as much as possible, so for instance, Minardi is nerfed so they act as back markers (to a degree)

I have designed a full F1 season and it's been epic so far. I have created an 18 round season. Under the following rules.

1. No restarts
2. 10 laps (longer races give the player an advantage)
3. Heavy damage Strong penalties for short cuts
4. EDIT - Race start order is based on "fastest first" - Drivers are ordered by their previous race finish (Only for AI drivers)
5. Player starting position is random (use a random number generator)
6. Review the starting order before each race
7. The player is assigned a team through a random selection of the ten available teams
8. Each team can only be a 2 car team, so the player must only have 1 teammate
9. I assign points for the top 10 finishers. 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

For the first race, I start the AI with their real world final standings for the season.

I am doing the 1990 season right now and I am driving for Ligier. After six rounds I am 5th in the standings with only 1 win, and 1 2nd place finish. I've scored in every race, but usually down the order. It's not easy, I'll tell ya that. The heavy damage and standing starts make a big difference. The race to T1 is unpredictable, and contact forces the AI into the pits, mixing up the field. You also have to be on the alert to not be on the wrong end of it yourself. Passes are more difficult than I expected because of risk of damage or penalty.

Now, they still have these random behaviours where they slam on the brakes for no reason, which is super annoying, but the upside of the races makes up for this downside. The races sure weren't like this when the F3500 was introduced, so something must have changed.

EDIT - This is why I don't allow myself a restart.



I messed up the start, didn't pay attention to my teammate checking up in front of me, and I take us both out of the race. Later, trying to catch 18th position, I looped it, and I finished dead last. Also, I think the heavy damage changes the behaviour of the other drivers. I got a slight tap in the rear at the race before the one in the video. Nothing I had to stop for, but it did slow me a little. The car behind me started closing the gap, then passed me, and then hunted down the car ahead of me! Good stuff.

 

[Voodoovaj]

IMPORTANT NEWS AT THE BOTTOM

Here are my standings after 14 rounds. I updated my rules post because I changed the starting orders to proper "fastest first" as it would be in an online lobby (Drivers ordered by previous race finish). I remain the only one outside that rule. My starts remain completely random. I made this changed after round 8.

I'm 5th in points

(I wish I could make an app for this, but driver names and finishing positions aren't broadcast for app use as far as I can tell).

The fastest first approach works really well. One bit of bad luck for one driver, can change the performance of another. A great example is Martin Donelley versus Nigel Mansell. Mansell was having a great season until round 12, Monza (I'm running Monza without the first chicane because it's a better experience). Mansell and Berger got into it and he ended up finishing down the order. Since then, it's been bad race after bad race and he finished last at Catalunya. Donelley, on the other hand, avoided issues at Monza and has been ripping it up ever since. Remember, the cars haven't changed. It's merely track and start position.

The Footwork team can't catch a break. Alboreto was 6th at Catalunya until he got hit from behind by (guess who) Mansell.

Ok, and now for the important note. Heavy Damage is a MUST just like weak boost. It appears that if you have damage, not only are you slowed a bit, but the AI behaviour changes. The cars immediately ahead and behind you become better.

I had some minor damage in the Catalunya race and I was running in 6th place. Donelley was in 5th. Gugelmin was 7th. In the latter half of the race, Donelley maintained a 1 second gap to me and Gugelmin started to close down a 5 second gap (partly from my damage slowing me, and partly from him being better (and not being slowed down like the the game normally does). Gugelmin never posted a "boosted" lap as far as I could see.

I thought I had seen this in previous rounds but I wasn't sure until last night. In an earlier round, again with some damage to my car, I pushed Nannini to a great performance. He maintained a gap to me, and as I closed in on him, he started to close down on Alesi. He got into a battle with Alesi and it was epic...How? Because the moment I pushed Nannini into a pass on Alesi, Alesi became the aggressive driver immediately ahead of me, and he retook Nannini. They battled back and forth until they made contact and both had to pit. I was going to save it, but I forgot and lost the replay.

Remember, I'm doing all of this with Reggie because the F3500B is not fully supported by Sophy, as is the case with the tracks I am using.

I'm going to add heavy damage to all my custom races now to see what it does with more balanced cars.

 

[Voodoovaj]

I finished my first F1 season (1990). I finished 5th overall.

Some take aways. Fastest first for the AI and a random start for the player seems to work really well. Heavy Damage also makes things unpredictable. No restarts catches you out as well.

For the bottom finishers, ordering them by team standings in the nest race worked better. It provided more realistic results. It also removed the possibility of a front runner always starting from the back because of one bad race, which is unrealistic.

I saw some really interesting behaviour as well. If this championship existed in the game, I would SWEAR the behaviour was scripted. Seeing as it's sitting in my excel sheet, it's just crazy coincidence.

Here's an example. For the entire season NO ONE who started lower than 2nd ever won a race. Going into the final race, Senna HAD to win, and Prost had to have some bad luck. Mansell, for some reason, had a tendency to rear end cars in the latter half of the season, causing him issues. In fact, his bad races cause Ferrari to lose the manufacturers championship to McLaren (Senna and a strangely consistent Berger).

So, with that in mind, no winner from 3rd and Mansell being a menace, the Ferrari's took off at the beginning of the race, and then Senna came back on lap 4. Granted, he didn't start 3rd, but still.



I think I'm going to use these for a Youtube series. I need to get my CapCut skills up to par, and this is a perfect side project for it.

Here's the tracks I used
1 Tokyo South Clockwise
2 Interlagos
3 Lago Maggiore Full Reverse
4 Yas Marina
5 CGV
6 Blue Moon Infield A
7 Le Mans 5 laps
8 Brands Hatch
9 Nurburgring GP Circuit
10 Red Bull Ring
11 Spa
12 Monza No chicane
13 Dragon's Tail Seaside Reverse
14 Catalunya No chicane
15 Suzuka
16 Autopolis Full
17 Fuji Short Course
18 Kyoto Driving Park Yamagiwa + Miyabi forward

Here's the final standiings

Some end of season notes:

• Boutsen fell off a cliff. Strong in the early season, MIA in the second half.
• Larini was a disappointment.
• Alboreto was the unluckiest driver all year. He was 6th in Monza and was taken out.
• Capelli was ALMOST in the points many times
• Team Larrousse - WOW - Suzuki and Bernard always over performed.
• Piquet - Man, if I didn't know this was not scripted, I would have SWORN it was scripted. That Benetton was always in contention.

Drawbacks, the AI still does random stops for no reason 😒

I'm looking forward to 1991

PS - After buying a bunch of 3500s, I came to realize that since I am going to be wrapped up in a championship, I can reuse the same car with different liveries in many case...oh well, I don't mind have 100 F1's

 

[05XR8]

Hmm, thinking about recreating Gran Turismo 1 events since we can save 50 race set ups. I see there are 13 special events. Missing Autumn Ring, but the GT original tracks are SOPHY compatible. I'll see how I go. Should be interesting if I go with six cars or a twenty car grid.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Hmm, thinking about recreating Gran Turismo 1 events since we can save 50 race set ups. I see there are 13 special events. Missing Autumn Ring, but the GT original tracks are SOPHY compatible. I'll see how I go. Should be interesting if I go with six cars or a twenty car grid.

Isn't GT1 8 cars? 🤔

 

[05XR8]

Isn't GT1 8 cars? 🤔

Six cars from GT-GT4. GT5P added 16.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Man, this Formula 1 series has me seeing crazy behaviours that CAN'T be real (unless there's easter eggs of some sort).

1991 GP of Brazil - Who do you think SHOULD win?


And this epic battle at Lago Maggiore



Can you imagine if the single player was all like this? I wish Sophy was available on all track, and with all cars.

EDIT - This is REGGIE, not Sophy. But Sophy, doesn't do the erratic things that Ressie does, so these races would be even better.

 

[05XR8]

Plus, Reggie using all the track and curbs helps it look more natural, despite Reggie pumping the brakes at times.

 

[jesse100190]

doing a custom dirt race with a non 4wd road car is just torture on a long technical track, a jump early on caused ai to pinball to each other causing a few yellow flags.