Gran Turismo 7 Custom Race thread

[Galvston]

For someone that may want to preview what GT8 will play like with sophy: create custom races with the cars and the settings from the campaign/café.

Sunday Cup Classic, FR Challenges 450pp, all those... the racing is so much better than with regular brain-dead AI that is made for the player to win. Also, some cars there will be OP and won't be held back, making you understand much better how the cars perform.

Also, the usual, Weak Boost, but copy the settings from the races: mostly 3 laps, rolling start 20m, stock cars on the early races, tuned for later (hard to pinpoint their performace). If only every single track was supported you could remake it all with sophy. They also pay much better than the regular campaign, at least the first races. For the cars, I write them down, and then buy them to do this.

Game would be so much better with this difficulty available since the start, makes the races and the cars more meaningful.

 

[benjoi84]

As much as I admire the work put in by the Custom Career team, their system has really exposed the janky menu design.

Additionally to what @Galvston has just posted, Custom Race's could be such a breeze if we just had some quick shortcuts between Garage - Custom Grid - Tuning Shop - GT Auto.

Power-to-weight ratio can only be seen in the Tuning Shop.

Current tyre can only be viewed on the setting screen.

Oil condition only in the Garage or GT Auto.

There's no options from within the custom grid setup screen to make any on the fly changes, and going in and out between menu screens becomes very tedious indeed.

First world problems!

Honestly it feels like the best and most versatile game mode has been shoved into a dark corner with all these weird choices (or limitations).

 

[Theufcveteran]

As much as I admire the work put in by the Custom Career team, their system has really exposed the janky menu design.

Additionally to what @Galvston has just posted, Custom Race's could be such a breeze if we just had some quick shortcuts between Garage - Custom Grid - Tuning Shop - GT Auto.

Power-to-weight ratio can only be seen in the Tuning Shop.

Current tyre can only be viewed on the setting screen.

Oil condition only in the Garage or GT Auto.

There's no options from within the custom grid setup screen to make any on the fly changes, and going in and out between menu screens becomes very tedious indeed.

First world problems!

Honestly it feels like the best and most versatile game mode has been shoved into a dark corner with all these weird choices (or limitations).

They had it right in GT6 where you could buy tuning parts from the pre-race menu. If they wanted to keep it grounded, they could maybe model a small semi-mechanics' garage in the pits or just use the N20 branding and expand the Race Shop menu.

The fact you didn't have the ability to change cars outside of the garage for a while makes me wonder how much they tested the actual menu flow. While I like the visual design, it is a lot of in-out, in-out.

You should definitely be able to see all those stats, power to weight, oil condition, etc, without having to go to GT Auto. At the very least the oil condition and all car specs.

I guess if you're not testing extracurricular stuff (i.e. not the main career), it wouldn't be too much of an issue since you can change your car at an event's info page. But if you wanna switch cars between races and tune them between tracks, it could be smoother for sure.

Maybe it's just their testing approach that needs to be expanded to cover non-career focused stuff. It never really bothered me (particularly now that you can change your car in a track's menu) until I started jumping between tracks often, but changing cars in custom races is too cumbersome for what it should be. Launch was not in a good place though in terms of changing cars. Not ideal now either, hopefully GT8 tidies up the UX edges.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Oil condition only in the Garage or GT Auto.

Only matters for your car anyway. AI cars don't accumulate mileage.

 

[benjoi84]

Only matters for your car anyway. AI cars don't accumulate mileage.

I was more referring to the fact you can jump into a new car without having to return to your garage (good!), but that way you wouldn't notice the worn oil (bad!).

 

[LeandroSvSt]

I would like to share a very competitive category I could reach using Sophy custom race.
I tried to replicate the FIA Group 4/5 from 70 to 75s using as much as possible the real specs from cars, but addapting some of them in order to make the grid closer.
The cars are:
Ferrari 365 Daytona
Ferrari 308 GTB
Porsche 911 Carrera RS
BMW 3.0 CSL
De Tomaso Pantera
De Tomaso Mangusta
Corvette C3 Stingray
Mustang Boss 429

Because all the cars are upgraded old cars, keep a quick pace isn't so easy to AI or player, with deliver a good challenge for both. Every track will show advantages for each car, which give us surprises.
Unfortunately Mangusta is one of the hardest cars to tune properly to avoid wheel arc bottoming. I found a tune that gave me a good pace, but AI suffer in maintain this car in track after the breaking zones, as this car has horrible breaks.

I have been testing 30 min races, with 3x tire wear and 1x fuel to avoid pitstops but change the behavior for each car because tire wear.

Here is a Spa race with a good challenge until the last lap.



These are the setup for each car:

 

[CodeRedR51]

After a small test race I decided to skip doing the Nurburgring with the V8 Series, so we're moving on to Maggiore. Got all of the cars qualified, the ballast on my car really hurt me here as I am nearly a full 1.5 seconds off the pace of the P1 car. Every single car had issues with understeer (the Real Understeer Simulator), some worse than others. We'll see how the test race goes.

 

[Skygrasper550]

sigh 3.5 years since the game came out, and the Custom Race tire issue still is not fixed even with Sophy introduced.

Serious question, is anyone here planning to attend the GTWS events or visit PD's offices? At this point you might just have to go up to Kaz's face (or anyone from the dev team, really) and mention it personally that they need to fix the tire bug in the Custom Race. I really, really, REALLY want to enjoy Custom Races and make the most out of that feature, but the tire bug severely limits your options.

 

[benjoi84]

sigh 3.5 years since the game came out, and the Custom Race tire issue still is not fixed even with Sophy introduced.

Serious question, is anyone here planning to attend the GTWS events or visit PD's offices? At this point you might just have to go up to Kaz's face (or anyone from the dev team, really) and mention it personally that they need to fix the tire bug in the Custom Race. I really, really, REALLY want to enjoy Custom Races and make the most out of that feature, but the tire bug severely limits your options.

The fact they haven't acknowledged it in all this time, it's never appeared on the Known Issues, makes me think it's a bug that they can't figure out.

The expression "spaghetti code" comes to mind.

 

[05XR8]

This would get me into drifting if SOPHY was able to be a true companion.

 

[ice311man]

I am not aware of the tire bug issue. What’s been going on?

 

[ShonnDaylee]

I am not aware of the tire bug issue. What’s been going on?

In Custom Races the AI will only use the default tire, or Racing Hard (if purchased for the vehicle). The AI will not use any other tire, even if you equip them. It's been this way since launch.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I am not aware of the tire bug issue. What’s been going on?

AI cars only use RH or the tires they come with stock.

 

[Lrgt7]

Hi, I would like to do a one-hour race in the 12 hours of Bathrust. Can you help me with the variable weather? Thanks.

 

[Theufcveteran]

Hi, I would like to do a one-hour race in the 12 hours of Bathrust. Can you help me with the variable weather? Thanks.

I just change the custom weather setting from preset to custom, and leave all the weather slots as random/question marks.

If you want random weather, that's the way to go. If you want to have specific weather at approximate parts of the race, you can change the "?" slots.

The longer the race is, the more "?" slots there will be. If you are in a slower or faster car, there will sometimes be more or fewer custom weather slots even if the race length is the same.

Bathurst doesn't have rain, but it will randomly cycle through available dry weather conditions.

For variable time speed, set it to x12, that way, one hour will be 12 hours in-game.

Bathurst goes from Early Dawn to Midnight so in-game it may run for a full 24 hour cycle without stopping a certain amount of time after the latest time of day option.

 

[Bojador]

I would just add that when setting random weather, note that by setting high values for time speed you will often get situations where the track dry up very unrealistically.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Round 5 of the V8 series is LIVE!



Edit: Well, that one was a bit boring and a little too easy. Did my usual pit stop thing and came out of the pits just ahead of the car I was behind before pitting, but gained a lot of time as the other cars pit and ended up getting the win by over 8 seconds. Maybe Maggiore isn't a great circuit for Sophy, at least with this series. There are a couple areas where it slows down too much or takes weird lines that slows it down. With that said, I have another 30kg to deal with on my car going into Spa for the next race which should be a bit better.

Edit 2: Next weekend I will be SUPER busy as I am preparing for a week long road trip vacation, so I probably will live stream the Spa race at some point this week in the evening. Will post the link when I do. Will also run Monza at some point next week as I will be on said road trip that weekend.

Here are the updated standings.

 

[05XR8]

Ran a 10 minute TC America w/SOPHY at Road Atlanta. Going to be a long wait for SOPHY to use the Elantra.

 

[2cam16]

@CodeRedR51 Good race but like you said, it got kinda boring. They need to fix Sophy going through those left-rights. Also after that last turn when they swerve left then back to the racing line. So weird.

 

[CodeRedR51]

@CodeRedR51 Good race but like you said, it got kinda boring. They need to fix Sophy going through those left-rights. Also after that last turn when they swerve left then back to the racing line. So weird.

Yeah I don't like that swerve to the left. They do it at the top of Eau Rouge too at Spa. Guess I have that to look forward to in the next race.

 

[05XR8]

SOPHY did great with this initial running. I was sending it 100% just gauge the performance of the cars. Might have to turn down the MINIs a couple clicks and turn up the M2s a couple clicks.


Sucks that we’ve got none of the circuits for the 2025 season

• Sonoma
• COTA
• Sebring
• VIR
• Road America
• Barber Motorsports Park

The 2021 and 2022 seasons did use Watkins Glen. Anyway, come Thursday I’ll see how Reggie goes when the Hyundai gets added.

Edit: Did more test races.

This one with Reggie surprised me. Even more surprising was the understeer at had at the bus stop. Like I couldn't steer the car right at that moment and lost positions.


Good races with SOPHY and so hard to pass.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Ran a 50 minute test race tonight for my next Sophy series, which will be GT4 based. All of the AI opponents will use Gr4 class cars set to GT7 BOP + 40-50hp, however I will be using a Nissan Z spec'd to similar power/weight numbers as the Supra Gr4. My thought was that I wouldn't have to handicap myself with extra ballast or less power here as being in a road car against race cars would be enough to make it a challenge.

First attempt didn't go so well, because one of them took me out. 😡 Gotta watch for them to put their nose in, but it happened so fast, I didn't have time to react.


So, quit that one and tried again. This one went much better with me slowly climbing up to 6th or 7th position by the half way point. Pit at the 24 minute mark and was all alone for a while until the AI cars started pitting with less than 10 minutes to go. Ended up finishing P8 because a couple cars didn't pit at all. I was going to raise the power on them anyway and will likely switch to a 60 minute race, so they should pit from now on.

Side note, the BMW M4 Gr4 has absolutely terrible fuel mileage. When most of the AI cars were at 1/4 tank or more, the BMW's were flashing red. Unless I can figure out how to fix it, might have to remove them from the field as they would almost always finish last.

Finally, check out this amazing battle with a couple AI cars that had me laughing.

 

[05XR8]

Yeah, SOPHY will set up for those passes if the user changes trajectory. Can't just block and switch up like past physics. Good stuff.

M4 aways been the worse on fuel. I've managed that with increased tyre wear. At least to mimic track abrasiveness.

 

[Galvston]

the sophy races are the best content in the game imo...
and I do think it's the best racing out there, maybe the great sims are better, AI wise, but on console I don't think there's anything better. Of course boost weak.

What I like is how it behaves on the different cars, and how fast it is depends a lot on the car.

 

[Bojador]

the sophy races are the best content in the game imo...
and I do think it's the best racing out there, maybe the great sims are better, AI wise, but on console I don't think there's anything better. Of course boost weak.

What I like is how it behaves on the different cars, and how fast it is depends a lot on the car.

The sad part is that it could be even better and all they had to do was to copy paste the race settings we get on lobbies and allow us to choose which tires the AI uses.

 

[pabloprp69]

I've been experimenting with GR 3 races and Sophy. Slip weak and strong, BoP on and off... And always boost weak.

My goal is to have a balanced grid that creates a nice challenge for me as well as a competition between AI cars.


Sometimes, the leader easily pulls away, and other times it stays with the front pack. Does anyone know the reason behind?

I can't seem to find a pattern, because sometimes the same cars behave differently.


Also, very disappointed that no Sophy content has been added in the past updates. Just wanted to vent about it 😩

 

[ice311man]

In Custom Races the AI will only use the default tire, or Racing Hard (if purchased for the vehicle). The AI will not use any other tire, even if you equip them. It's been this way since launch.

Oh ok. So it’s nothing new. I have noticed though when it rains and the rain then stops they do switch to soft tire. But that’s about it. Yeah that is annoying they always start on RH. Thanks

 

[ShonnDaylee]

Oh ok. So it’s nothing new. I have noticed though when it rains and the rain then stops they do switch to soft tire. But that’s about it. Yeah that is annoying they always start on RH. Thanks

Yeah, the only time they will utilize another tire is the Racing Soft and only after coming into the pits to change tires.

 

[Mumster]

Threw together a quick one with stock BRZ’s boost weak. Turned out super fun!!

 

[CodeRedR51]

Did another GT4 test race tonight with a few settings changed. Did lap count instead of timer, 27 laps ended up being around 58 minutes. Set slipstream to Weak instead of Strong, increased the HP on the Lamborghini's and removed the BMW's.

HOLY COW. This was, by FAR, my best Sophy AI race. It was a bit frustrating at the start because I could clearly see that most of the field was stuck behind the 3rd place car yet again. So first and second took off (leader was a Lambo who will now get a HP reduction) but passes were still not easy for me and there were a few spots around the track that the AI cars would make passes on others.

At the halfway mark I was in 10th. By the time I pit on lap 20 I had just barely taken 3rd place. Since the Z uses more fuel than the Gr.4 cars, I lost a bit of time as expected on my stop needing to take more fuel. AI cars started pitting after I did, and it seemed like every time I came down the front straight a few more cars would exit pit road. Got a bit chaotic a couple times. (see video below)

Finished in 4th or 5th, can't remember. But I did save the replay and will probably make a highlight video out of it soon, although since I am going on vacation next week it likely won't be until after I get back. I have 3 races left in the V8 series, but I might just do Spa as the Finale and finish it off. This race tonight was FUN.

Had a run on the Aston going into T1 but cars exiting pit road stopped me from making a dive. Thankfully the Ferrari helped me out.