Gran Turismo 7 Custom Race thread

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What is the best way to simulate a qualifying?

I’ve used a 20 laps race in the past to test BoP and then went through the replay to get the lap times for all cars (only 3 in that case) but it’s tedious and if I want to do it for a full grid it’s even more tedious.

On that occasion, the fastest laps from the AI were all set in the first 5 laps and I didn’t have tyre wear not fuel consumption on. Is this common?
 
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What is the best way to simulate a qualifying?

I’ve used a 20 laps race in the past to test BoP and then went through the replay to get the lap times for all cars (only 3 in that case) but it’s tedious and if I want to do it for a full grid it’s even more tedious.

On that occasion, the fastest laps from the AI were all set in the first 5 laps and I didn’t have tyre wear not fuel consumption on. Is this common?
Idk the “best” way, but some options:
-short race (as you describe above), finishing position or fastest lap time). does the rolling start distance modifier do anything? i’d want them spread out
-time trial them yourself
-do a multi-race series where each finish feeds the next grid

As a shortcut, I think PP is the game’s representation of simulated quickness with the AI…in theory, a higher PP directly equates to a faster lap. Imagine wacky tunes can mess with that notion, where it is more about ‘fastest potential’ rather than running with perfect consistency (thinking of FR cars spinning out at Red Bull Ring’s turn 3).

What you do with the “list of cars sorted by quickness” is up to you, too. Curious who favors fastest up front versus mixing it up versus a reverse grid…I sort of like my fastest car in the back as with a long enough race it can usually still find a good lead.
 
Idk the “best” way, but some options:
-short race (as you describe above), finishing position or fastest lap time). does the rolling start distance modifier do anything? i’d want them spread out
-time trial them yourself
-do a multi-race series where each finish feeds the next grid

As a shortcut, I think PP is the game’s representation of simulated quickness with the AI…in theory, a higher PP directly equates to a faster lap. Imagine wacky tunes can mess with that notion, where it is more about ‘fastest potential’ rather than running with perfect consistency (thinking of FR cars spinning out at Red Bull Ring’s turn 3).

What you do with the “list of cars sorted by quickness” is up to you, too. Curious who favors fastest up front versus mixing it up versus a reverse grid…I sort of like my fastest car in the back as with a long enough race it can usually still find a good lead.

This is anecdotal, but in my experience, with some exceptions, the cars starting in front will stay in front even if they are slower. So doing reverse grids is not really optimal when running a series because you’re giving yourself an advantage (you pass other cars, the AI usually does not).

The reason I ask is because in my Super GT season, the cars with more balast should be less competitive in the next round and that should start in qualifying.
 
If some players are replicating real series, I’d suggest using the real series race results. I’ve done that with DTM, ATCC and JTC.
This is anecdotal, but in my experience, with some exceptions, the cars starting in front will stay in front even if they are slower. So doing reverse grids is not really optimal when running a series because you’re giving yourself an advantage (you pass other cars, the AI usually does not).

The reason I ask is because in my Super GT season, the cars with more balast should be less competitive in the next round and that should start in qualifying.
Another thing you could do, is a random grid for the second/third race. Mixes it up but may avoid the issues with reverse grids.
 
If some players are replicating real series, I’d suggest using the real series race results. I’ve done that with DTM, ATCC and JTC.

That’s what I’m doing. I’m using Super GT 2016 starting grids. But I was wondering if there were better options.
 
Tried out a custom grid, and while most of the race was fun, the end predictably fell apart.

By the end of the race, my tires (all cars were on RMs) were all but dead. I swapped to a fresh set and caught up to the race leader by about 2 seconds per lap. Both because my tires were fresher, and because the AI was slowing down to let me win.

Once I was in first though, the entire field went into catch-up mode. The former leader suddenly had the pace to set new purple laps and stay within a second of me as I also set purple laps. But of course, neither of ours would last long, as the last place drivers gained impossible pace and started setting much faster laps than any of the podium drivers. You know, the ones who were in front due to being fastest, having their lap times destroyed by the drivers in the back who were there due to being the slowest.

I really, really want to get a full fun race out of this game. But seeing the AI opponents and the race for what they are, pre-determined to let you win but give a battle in the last few laps, it all feels pointless. Why push hard for the whole race when I know they'll slow down and let me win by the end? Why aim for a fastest lap when the slowest cars will crush it anyway? Why spend 100 minutes in a race that the game already plans to let me win? Why go through the effort of setting up this race at all?

Why can't any of this be turned off? Why aren't we allowed to feel like we're at least competing against the game's AI? I know most people will never feel that it is competitive when the opponents aren't human, but I can at least find fun in competing against a game. GT7 doesn't even provide that: it tries to give the illusion of competition but in the end it still wants to always guide the player to a win. A win that ultimately feels empty and undeserved.

Well anyway, thank you Bojador for your 2016 Super GT grid setup. None of this is your fault, and you did great with what the game allows.
 
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Tried out a custom grid, and while most of the race was fun, the end predictably fell apart.

By the end of the race, my tires (all cars were on RMs) were all but dead. I swapped to a fresh set and caught up to the race leader by about 2 seconds per lap. Both because my tires were fresher, and because the AI was slowing down to let me win.

Once I was in first though, the entire field went into catch-up mode. The former leader suddenly had the pace to set new purple laps and stay within a second of me as I also set purple laps. But of course, neither of ours would last long, as the last place drivers gained impossible pace and started setting much faster laps than any of the podium drivers. You know, the ones who were in front due to being fastest, having their lap times destroyed by the drivers in the back who were there due to being the slowest.

I really, really want to get a full fun race out of this game. But seeing the AI opponents and the race for what they are, pre-determined to let you win but give a battle in the last few laps, it all feels pointless. Why push hard for the whole race when I know they'll slow down and let me win by the end? Why aim for a fastest lap when the slowest cars will crush it anyway? Why spend 100 minutes in a race that the game already plans to let me win? Why go through the effort of setting up this race at all?

Why can't any of this be turned off? Why aren't we allowed to feel like we're at least competing against the game's AI? I know most people will never feel that it is competitive when the opponents aren't human, but I can at least find fun in competing against a game. GT7 doesn't even provide that: it tries to give the illusion of competition but in the end it still wants to always guide the player to a win. A win that ultimately feels empty and undeserved.

Well anyway, thank you Bojador for your 2016 Super GT grid setup. None of this is your fault, and you did great with what the game allows.

The key I’ve found for having enjoyable custom races, is to purposefully set up grids to where I’m going to have to drive a perfect race just to get on the podium. For me, this usually means making mixed grids between homologated GR.4 cars, road cars tuned to gr.4 specs, road cars tuned and modeled after group 5 cars, and 90’s super cars tuned to LM specs. I also like to run high multipliers and long races, which usually opens up a variety of strategies.

Oh yeah, I’m always in a road car, and I handicap myself by at least 25-50pp.

I’ve found if you set the AI to be noticeably faster than you, they’ll be less apt to slow down ridiculously in some of the corners, AND they’ll abuse track limits like we would. They’ll also dive bomb you too!

For me, it’s moreso about the challenge of having a clean drive. These events pay peanuts as it is, so winning is of little concern to me.

Food for thought 👍🏼
 
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I don't know if this has been added but here it is.

The lazy way:

If you're not home or can't sit in front of your PS, you can set a custom race at Special Stage X with (example) a SRT Tomahawk S on RS tires, a custom grid of 20 "normal" cars, no tire wear, no fuel loss, real grip, real slipstream and cook for 11 laps per hour. Set the number of laps for the amount of time you will be gone or sleeping. Rig the throttle on the controller with a rubber band and the L stick to the left some. To much will slow the can to much. (The offered one lap race can be used to find the sweet spot. Yes, pictures are to the right but, you get the concept) Then let fly! Granted, you don't make as much however, you don't need to even be home or awake. Best thing short of B-Spec Bob.

Oh, remember to plug in your controller or it will die!
No promises you will win the race however, it seems to give the clean driving bonus regardless.

Do use a sacrificial car as it will get worn out.

And don't put a Corvette ZR1 in. It will win a all night race.

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Tried out a custom grid, and while most of the race was fun, the end predictably fell apart.

By the end of the race, my tires (all cars were on RMs) were all but dead. I swapped to a fresh set and caught up to the race leader by about 2 seconds per lap. Both because my tires were fresher, and because the AI was slowing down to let me win.

Once I was in first though, the entire field went into catch-up mode. The former leader suddenly had the pace to set new purple laps and stay within a second of me as I also set purple laps. But of course, neither of ours would last long, as the last place drivers gained impossible pace and started setting much faster laps than any of the podium drivers. You know, the ones who were in front due to being fastest, having their lap times destroyed by the drivers in the back who were there due to being the slowest.

I really, really want to get a full fun race out of this game. But seeing the AI opponents and the race for what they are, pre-determined to let you win but give a battle in the last few laps, it all feels pointless. Why push hard for the whole race when I know they'll slow down and let me win by the end? Why aim for a fastest lap when the slowest cars will crush it anyway? Why spend 100 minutes in a race that the game already plans to let me win? Why go through the effort of setting up this race at all?

Why can't any of this be turned off? Why aren't we allowed to feel like we're at least competing against the game's AI? I know most people will never feel that it is competitive when the opponents aren't human, but I can at least find fun in competing against a game. GT7 doesn't even provide that: it tries to give the illusion of competition but in the end it still wants to always guide the player to a win. A win that ultimately feels empty and undeserved.

Well anyway, thank you Bojador for your 2016 Super GT grid setup. None of this is your fault, and you did great with what the game allows.

Did you set the balast for every car and adjusted your ECU?

I’ve had races where the AI set impossible laps with boost off (I know) but on these settings I haven’t seen that kind of silly behaviour.

In fact on round 2, at Fuji, I had an amazing race where the AI was constantly battling between themselves. P11 finished P1 😮
They even battled with me in turn 1 a couple of times.

I’ll post the highlights over the weekend but it was an amazing race even if P1 and P2 pitted 2 times and pitted last lap. The AI wasn’t has competitive as at Suzuka because they slow down too much on that long right, but it was still a lot of fun. The AI had the best lap by 2 seconds, because of the boost now doubt but it wasn’t a case where they were 50km faster on the straights.

One thing I noticed is that the AI doesn’t try to stay in your sleapstream. If only PD could adjust the AI ever so slightly and let them use full throttle…
 
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Did you set the balast for every car and adjusted your ECU?
I did. The race was good and well balanced until the end. I had the boost on weak as instructed.

I don’t know what I may have done wrong, but the AI only got its insane pace right at the end of the race. I know the game uses rubberbanding but it’s a bit excessive on any boost setting.

Every lengthy custom race I’ve tried (where I set up a decent balance against the AI) has gone this way: decent racing until the end, but once I get to first, the game wants a constant battle for that lead and starts trying to bring all of the field closer together. Even on dead tires, all of the AI increased their speed in an attempt to keep up or catch me. This leads to cars at the back setting the final fastest laps right at the end, beating my own (in this case, my laps being set on fresh tires) by a wide margin. In the most extreme cases I’ve seen laps 2-3 seconds faster than my previous purple, set by what have been the slowest cars for the rest of the race. If I pit early, I can be sure that I’ll be able to catch the lead AI as they will slow down to give me a chance.

If anything, I believe in the theory someone else has posted here before. At different points in the race, the game has a set position it wants to guide the player to. That’s why if you make a major mistake or pit you will still catch up to where you were before having a fight to move up from there. It can even feel like an AI fights you until the game decides it’s time to let you pass, and the AI just lets you go. I’ve made major mistakes before long straights and as long as I make it back onto the track, the cars behind make no effort to pass and will instead slow down to stay behind me. If I don’t get back onto the track in time, they will pass but will stay slow enough that getting back past is easier than it should be. By the end, unless one of the AI was set to be much too fast or slow, it tries to create an ongoing battle for the lead. The fact that the opponent cars should have useless tires is ignored.

It’s too scripted, both to let the player win, and to create artificial battles before that win. It’s disappointing to get through a lengthy race just to see the AI start behaving far outside of what should be possible, and be reminded that the game was always determined to produce this exact result.



I’m on mobile so I can’t quite figure out how to edit a quote in here, but the results of my race were almost exactly the starting grid, with only a couple cars swapping places, and only one moving down a few positions.

I have the settings, replay, and result saved if I need to get any further information later.
 
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I did. The race was good and well balanced until the end. I had the boost on weak as instructed.

I don’t know what I may have done wrong, but the AI only got its insane pace right at the end of the race. I know the game uses rubberbanding but it’s a bit excessive on any boost setting.

Every lengthy custom race I’ve tried (where I set up a decent balance against the AI) has gone this way: decent racing until the end, but once I get to first, the game wants a constant battle for that lead and starts trying to bring all of the field closer together. Even on dead tires, all of the AI increased their speed in an attempt to keep up or catch me. This leads to cars at the back setting the final fastest laps right at the end, beating my own (in this case, my laps being set on fresh tires) by a wide margin. In the most extreme cases I’ve seen laps 2-3 seconds faster than my previous purple, set by what have been the slowest cars for the rest of the race. If I pit early, I can be sure that I’ll be able to catch the lead AI as they will slow down to give me a chance.

If anything, I believe in the theory someone else has posted here before. At different points in the race, the game has a set position it wants to guide the player to. That’s why if you make a major mistake or pit you will still catch up to where you were before having a fight to move up from there. It can even feel like an AI fights you until the game decides it’s time to let you pass, and the AI just lets you go. I’ve made major mistakes before long straights and as long as I make it back onto the track, the cars behind make no effort to pass and will instead slow down to stay behind me. If I don’t get back onto the track in time, they will pass but will stay slow enough that getting back past is easier than it should be. By the end, unless one of the AI was set to be much too fast or slow, it tries to create an ongoing battle for the lead. The fact that the opponent cars should have useless tires is ignored.

It’s too scripted, both to let the player win, and to create artificial battles before that win. It’s disappointing to get through a lengthy race just to see the AI start behaving far outside of what should be possible, and be reminded that the game was always determined to produce this exact result.



I’m on mobile so I can’t quite figure out how to edit a quote in here, but the results of my race were almost exactly the starting grid, with only a couple cars swapping places, and only one moving down a few positions.

I have the settings, replay, and result saved if I need to get any further information later.

Yeah I agree that the game tries to keep the field together. I think that’s what boost does, however if you turn it off it still does it. Considering the boost was bugged in online lobbies I think it’s bugged in custom races, still.

Here’s the results of the Fuji race. There quite a good amount of changes compared to the starting grid. It was a 37 laps race, most cars pitted once for fuel and tyres. A few cars pitted twice for fuel, this may be the reason for such big changes in the grid but I haven’t analysed the replay yet.

I’ve also noticed that the AI respects yellow flags too much 😂

Who the hell slows down on yellow flags?! When I was testing BoP I had to pit because if I parked off track the AI would slow down for the yellow flag.

Edit: I’d like to see a screenshot of your end race if you happen to have it. To compare the total times and fastest laps.
 

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Indeed with the yellow flags. That’s why I disable them, so I can “spectate” and have the AI continue to lap at pace.

😂
I feel dumb for not doing that now.

Maybe I’ll turn if off for races as well. The way they don’t go for moves when you go off track could be caused by flag rules.
 
😂
I feel dumb for not doing that now.

Maybe I’ll turn if off for races as well. The way they don’t go for moves when you go off track could be caused by flag rules.
Same with damage. One love tap and half the field pit. Less cars to race. AI also get a bit cautious.
I do some races with Damage On. Mainly real race cars. With my classic built road to race cars, I leave it off. Less to nil downforce is enough of a handicap, sometimes.
 
Same with damage. One love tap and half the field pit. Less cars to race. AI also get a bit cautious.
I do some races with Damage On. Mainly real race cars. With my classic built road to race cars, I leave it off. Less to nil downforce is enough of a handicap, sometimes.

I also turn damage off. It’s stupid to see the AI pit just because I touch them slightly and give me free wins. Happened more than once in the last lap and I decided to keep it off.
 
I did. The race was good and well balanced until the end. I had the boost on weak as instructed.

I don’t know what I may have done wrong, but the AI only got its insane pace right at the end of the race. I know the game uses rubberbanding but it’s a bit excessive on any boost setting.

Every lengthy custom race I’ve tried (where I set up a decent balance against the AI) has gone this way: decent racing until the end, but once I get to first, the game wants a constant battle for that lead and starts trying to bring all of the field closer together. Even on dead tires, all of the AI increased their speed in an attempt to keep up or catch me. This leads to cars at the back setting the final fastest laps right at the end, beating my own (in this case, my laps being set on fresh tires) by a wide margin. In the most extreme cases I’ve seen laps 2-3 seconds faster than my previous purple, set by what have been the slowest cars for the rest of the race. If I pit early, I can be sure that I’ll be able to catch the lead AI as they will slow down to give me a chance.

If anything, I believe in the theory someone else has posted here before. At different points in the race, the game has a set position it wants to guide the player to. That’s why if you make a major mistake or pit you will still catch up to where you were before having a fight to move up from there. It can even feel like an AI fights you until the game decides it’s time to let you pass, and the AI just lets you go. I’ve made major mistakes before long straights and as long as I make it back onto the track, the cars behind make no effort to pass and will instead slow down to stay behind me. If I don’t get back onto the track in time, they will pass but will stay slow enough that getting back past is easier than it should be. By the end, unless one of the AI was set to be much too fast or slow, it tries to create an ongoing battle for the lead. The fact that the opponent cars should have useless tires is ignored.

It’s too scripted, both to let the player win, and to create artificial battles before that win. It’s disappointing to get through a lengthy race just to see the AI start behaving far outside of what should be possible, and be reminded that the game was always determined to produce this exact result.



I’m on mobile so I can’t quite figure out how to edit a quote in here, but the results of my race were almost exactly the starting grid, with only a couple cars swapping places, and only one moving down a few positions.

I have the settings, replay, and result saved if I need to get any further information later.
Could it be that the AI went onto a better tyre?
If you had pit stops this could be your issue. As I believe the AI will switch to softer tyres after pitting. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

But if they suddenly speed up in the latter half of the race that could be why as opposed to it being scripted or rubber banding.

I don’t know if you had pit stops or not but If you did then maybe check your replay you can see what the AI did with tyres.

I need to test this properly my end which I’ll admit I haven’t done so this all could be nonsense but as I believe AI tyre strategy to be an issue in custom race. So i ensure all AI run cars only have the default tyre that comes with the car when bought and only buy inters and wets as an option for race cars.

I ran a 2hr all Gr3 Le Mans race with multiple pit stops and I didn’t see any rubber banding at play with boost set to weak. And ran another endurance race with heavy damage and multi class gr3 and gr1 cars and again didn’t feel there was any rubber banding.
All I did was ensured the cars only had RH, Inters and Wets available to them.

Even in my classic 60/70s GT series with cars all race tuned often from road cars I keep them on the default tyre which is usually cm or cs. I simply don’t buy better tyres for any car I want the AI to race. I’ll give them better suspension and brakes and usually have to do my own bop for these older cars but despite all the new parts and tuning I never give them better tyres.
 
Did a few races at Tsukuba, Bathurst, Autopolis and Fuji. Wanted to see if any improvements. Well, using the Kenmeri at each track, netting me no big dents in overtakes. AI were pretty good at limiting how many spots I gained.

Even with AI not at full throttle, the Boost(plus their use of TCS) kept them ahead on the straights. Real slipstream setting need to have the car right up close to be more effective.

Replicating the Nissan TS Cup(Nissan Sunny One Make)




Going try Daytona and see if the AI can stay ahead on the banks.
 
Could it be that the AI went onto a better tyre?
If you had pit stops this could be your issue. As I believe the AI will switch to softer tyres after pitting. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

But if they suddenly speed up in the latter half of the race that could be why as opposed to it being scripted or rubber banding.

I don’t know if you had pit stops or not but If you did then maybe check your replay you can see what the AI did with tyres.
They never did pit, even at the end of the race. All cars were on RM, which is the default for the cars. I had only purchased IM and wet tires for them. Their sudden speed was only in the last few laps of 52.

Edit: I’d like to see a screenshot of your end race if you happen to have it. To compare the total times and fastest laps.
1679706528410.png

Note that I inserted myself into the grid and started 16th. The game only shows the top 12, so below that was:
13th - K. Matsuura
14th - D. Nakajima
15th - K. Tsukakoshi
16th - N. Yamamoto, who set the fastest lap of the race

The starting grid was the default listed in the spreadsheet. For a simple comparison, here are the AI's starting and finishing positions. This excludes me, so their finishing positions will be 1 higher on the spreadsheet than in the GT7 screenshot.
1679706742730.png


There's a few positions switched, but the largest changes were H. Yasuda moving down two positions and D. Nakajima moving up two positions.

As you can see from the lap times on the right, Yamamoto's pace suddenly increased toward the end of lap 47, then stayed consistently fast until the end.
1679707233601.png


This is my first time watching the replay, so I can now see that their tires were not as worn as mine by this point. Probably due to a combination of me pushing harder and making more mistakes. Regardless, at no point in the race did any AI car get new tires, instead staying on the same set of RMs for the entire race.

My own fastest lap was a 1:51.589, which until the AI cars had their speed boost, was the fastest of the race.
1679707416037.png


Yes, feel free to make fun of my wildly inconsistent lap times.

And just to complete it, here's the settings I saved. Boost weak, professional AI.
1679707766160.png
 
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They never did pit, even at the end of the race. All cars were on RM, which is the default for the cars. I had only purchased IM and wet tires for them. Their sudden speed was only in the last few laps of 52.


View attachment 1242319
Note that I inserted myself into the grid and started 16th. The game only shows the top 12, so below that was:
13th - K. Matsuura
14th - D. Nakajima
15th - K. Tsukakoshi
16th - N. Yamamoto, who set the fastest lap of the race

The starting grid was the default listed in the spreadsheet. For a simple comparison, here are the AI's starting and finishing positions. This excludes me, so their finishing positions will be 1 higher on the spreadsheet than in the GT7 screenshot.
View attachment 1242320

There's a few positions switched, but the largest changes were H. Yasuda moving down two positions and D. Nakajima moving up two positions.

As you can see from the lap times on the right, Yamamoto's pace suddenly increased toward the end of lap 47, then stayed consistently fast until the end.
View attachment 1242322

This is my first time watching the replay, so I can now see that their tires were not as worn as mine by this point. Probably due to a combination of me pushing harder and making more mistakes. Regardless, at no point in the race did any AI car get new tires, instead staying on the same set of RMs for the entire race.

My own fastest lap was a 1:51.589, which until the AI cars had their speed boost, was the fastest of the race.
View attachment 1242323

Yes, feel free to make fun of my wildly inconsistent lap times.

And just to complete it, here's the settings I saved. Boost weak, professional AI.
View attachment 1242324

Yamamoto was also the last in my race and finished 1:02 after the leader in a 18 lap race. Fastest lap on my race was from James Rossiter with 1:51.607 in the Lexus.

And I see the NSX finished bottom 5 in your race as well. I’d say his fastest lap isn’t ridiculous per se although I do agree that at that point in the race, even with an almost empty tank, is tyres would have lost so much grip that I don’t see that lap as possible. Check his top speed in the straights. I’ve had cases in the past where the AI would be 30km faster from previous laps.
 
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Check his top speed in the straights.
Using the start/finish straight, Yamamoto's top speed was 168 mph early on, then fell to 164 around lap 7 (probably due to a lack of slipstream). I've jumped ahead to lap 44, where his top speed is still 163 or 164, depending on the lap. I noticed the speed boost happens at the end of lap 47, and sure enough,
1679780539369.png


The top speed is then consistently 177 or 178 mph.

That's about 14 mph or 22 km/h faster than before.

For reference, my own top speed fluctuated slightly around 170 mph on this straight. Mostly because I would always brake later than the AI, because turn 1 is just so fun if you wait until the last possible moment to brake.
 
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