Gran Turismo World Series discussion (2026 Nations Cup: 11-28 February)

[Uday9479]

Have done a few lobby races without changing tyres and maybe start losing around 1s per lap after lap 12 or so. Not quite sure what I'll do in the race. Like the idea of doing an early pit and getting clean air but don't like the idea of trying to defend on worn tyres at the end. Also considering having of a pit window starting at lap 6 so could still do an early pit whilst still changing tyres. Guess it will depend on where I qualify and whether I feel I'm being held up in a train or not.

I started to lose time a little right towards lap 19 & 20. You're completely right it all depends on where we were to qualify & how the race unfolds. I'm torn between a tyre change or not. I did a few simulations in the lobby races & only tried no change runs. I was able to lap in high 1:27s to mid 1:28s which I felt was decent.

Anyway, hoping for the best & hope the best for You Mate. Be calm.

I won't participate today but am interested how this turns out as it would have been my main scenario... Good luck! 🍀

That's bad. Hope You get plenty of time to practice for Nurburgring so You can return with a bang Mate. Cheers.

 

[tmtk]

What a garbage round for me!

First race I got taken off the track by some crazy Brazillian, finishing 12th.
But let's not kid ourselves, the potential was for P8 max.

The second race (where I'm door no.1) I totally rode my wheels off, setting my best ever Q lap (for 9th position) and improving my overall race time by 4 seconds. And I was barely 8th (under a lot of heat from behind, only in the last lap I opened a gap). No chance to catch anyone ahead.
I liked this track a lot, but let's face it, I'm slow there.

This better be a write off round (93 points)...

 

[FlapJackFlash]

GT1 EMEA 1st slot split A/B lobby

Meh pretty much sums up the whole race, which was a shame as I thought I had pretty good pace here. Q3 with a 1.27.153 which I thought was encouraging, but just kept making mistakes and ended up 7th with some other cars with a similar pace but that I wasn't any faster then. No point doing any early pit, as the rest of the field was about 13 seconds behind so would have come straight out into traffic so pitted on L10 and changed tyres same as cars in front. Only hope to make up spaces was others mistakes but everyone drove well so ended P7 for 124 points.

Probably won't go again as I think I got exactly the position my pace dictated.

 

[Gorefast]

I started to lose time a little right towards lap 19 & 20. You're completely right it all depends on where we were to qualify & how the race unfolds. I'm torn between a tyre change or not. I did a few simulations in the lobby races & only tried no change runs. I was able to lap in high 1:27s to mid 1:28s which I felt was decent.

Anyway, hoping for the best & hope the best for You Mate. Be calm.

That's bad. Hope You get plenty of time to practice for Nurburgring so You can return with a bang Mate. Cheers.

That's very kind of you. I only join if it fits into my time schedule and is fun for me. If it is the Nordschleife I will wait further until Spa as I don't like that track: too long for time trial and to narrow for racing... Have a nice race! 🏁

 

[Zorz]

I think I just used my entire season's worth of luck today and I shall not be tempting fate by going again. I went with the lap 1 no tyre change strategy and somehow fluked a good result out of it. That definitely felt it shouldn't have worked in the moment, but I got away with it.

I qualified P9 with a 1:27.279 and (once again) went backwards on lap 1 after the car refused to turn in for the tight hairpin. How does everyone adjust to cold tyres and dirty air so quickly?! I swear the car always feels horrendous at the start. That dropped me to P11 and had me a bit flustered, so I thought I'd try the Hail Mary and see what happens.

Long story short, I finished P6 with a little assistance from a couple of incidents. I started getting really worried after lap 12-13 or so as I had hoped for everyone to spread out a bit, but looking in the radar it seemed like the field had stayed mostly bunched up.

Scanning through the replay, it turns out some of those were also no tyre changers who started falling away and holding people up, buying me precious time to hang on with dying tyres. I feel really bad for a Nissan who tried the no tyre change from a lap 10 pit stop, and ended up making a second pit stop after lap 18 to take tyres. Ooooof.

Edit - On checking the replay further, a couple of BMWs who had been gaining on me started playing Destruction Derby behind me and punting each other around at the start of the final lap. Just pure filth.

P6, 213 points. Compared to the last Manufacturers season I took part in (last year's official qualifiers), this is going extremely well so far!

​

 

[Uday9479]

Just took part in my EMEA GT1 A Slot 1 race......Qualy - 5th.....Race - 6th

Seeing only DR A drivers on the grid got me a little nervous already. This time my DR is firmly in A which is why I believe I had to race against DR A drivers. Last time out, I was DR B so the grid then was a mix of DR a & B.

Anyway, I did fairly good & was happy/amazed to qualify in 5th. My best time of 1:27:6xx came on the 1st attempt whereas the other 2 attempts were slower.

So as the race started, we all kept our positions till the mini tunnel at the S1-S2 intermediate marker where the 3rd placed driver spun off. After a lap I was able to overtake the driver in 3rd at the end of the back straight. He was in the 911. At a moment I thought could I finish in 3rd two races in a row?

I was then able to create a little gap as this driver & another one in 911 as well were fighting each other. Behind these there were faster group of drivers. One of the Porsche drivers went wide & other got overtaken soon by lap 4. Then these faster group of cars was catching me slowly. By the end of lap 7, the gap was just half a second so I decided to pit because I didn't want to waste time defending.

I rejoined in 13th & behind a GT by Citroen. In the next 2 laps, many other drivers made their pitstops. Within those 2 laps, I was in a net 5th place with the driver in GT by Citroen yet to pit. I caught upto him & overtook him at the hairpin before the main straight. Then a little bad luck struck. Coming to T1, this driver braked a tad too little/late & hit into me resulting in me going wide onto the grass & losing some 5 seconds in the process. What irritated me even more was that he didn't get any penalty (he anyway finished right towards the bottom of the grid). I got overtaken by a driver whom I had undercut because of the 5 second loss.

After the race, the driver in the GT by Citroen apologized. I accepted his apology because a driver with guilt will apologize & not otherwise. The damage was done though as I lost 5th place. Maybe I shouldn't have pitted so early (lap 7) but I know I would've lost more positions. Still finishing in 6th amongst a strong grid of DR A drivers is satisfying. Wasn't expecting such a high result.

 

[Don3hide]

I really enjoy these event races. Racing seems alot cleaner than the daily races. I wish they would do these more often.

 

[DanHOW]

Got a win this morning. 😁 GT2/DR-B
After my abysmal attempts in the first two rounds it was a nice change of pace.

Qualified on pole with 1:27.8
The Lamborghini hung with me for a lap or two but I kept slowly pulling away. Average lap time was around 1:28.5. Took tires at the end of lap 10.

VR lost its connection twice, so lost a couple seconds but didn’t crash at least.

One of my better tracks.

 

[VTEC Driver]

EMEA GT2 - 18:00 - Q10 P8

The most difficult part is to manage the situations.
If you pit earlier you still could fall in the middle of some battles behind.
If you stay you can lose time in the fight in front of you.

I went for a pit at lap 6 and this was meaning to have some stressful laps at the end.
I was lapping at 1:29.2/7 on average but the guys in front of me were around 1 sec faster, so I cannot complain about the final result.

Much worse went to the leader that was in pole with 1:27.3 and at the curve just before the tunnel was slammed into the wall and no penalties at all to the guilty one. The pole man arrived behind me at the end…

If I would pit 1-2 laps later I could arrive in P6… but we are talking of 2 seconds of difference.
With this result I even kept my DR unchanged giving me the feeling that it was the right position for my capability.

Not willing to test again my poor performance, I already done a trial at the Nurburgring… 3 laps on RM and 2 laps on RS.

Let say that it is not obvious to manage the tires till the end and the performance could be highly different car by car… in a narrow circuit… the traffic will play again an important role… but pit after lap 1 could be really risky for me…
Fuel seems to be not a problem but it depends about the car because the Renault was finishing with 0.5 lap remaining in the tank.

See you Saturday!

 

[Moose78]

It's been a day...

Team Renault - R.S.01 GT3 '16 - GT2 - Americas - 11 AM EST - Door #2 - 121 points available - Q6 (1:28.019)

I'd planned to go with a no-tire-change strategy for this race and all the chaos of lap 1 confirmed that this was the only sane choice. Another driver in a Ferrari apparently had the same feeling. We both pitted at the end of that first lap and exited to some clean air.

I didn't want to waste time battling, so I just followed behind. A couple laps later, the Ferrari lost the rear end of the car on turn 10, onto the back straight, and I pulled ahead as they got the car straighten out.

By the time everybody was done pitting on lap 13, or so, I was in P4, with a healthy lead over the Ferrari. At some point, I noticed that the Ferrari had been overtaken. It wasn't long before there was pink-wheeled Porsche on my tail. There wasn't any point in trying to fend them off with my worn tires, so I let them by on turn 1, dropping to P5.

That's where I finished for 101 points and a 2.7% increase in my DR B progress, bringing it to 78.4%.



Team Aston Martin - V12 Vantage GT3 '12 - GT2 - Americas - 12 PM EST - Door #10 - 120 points available - Q7 (1:28.271)

Since the no-tire-change strategy worked so well in the previous race, I decided to try it again.

Everything was going well until lap 3, when I passed a Toyota who was recovering from an incident. Apparently the incident had left them so fuming angry that they had to take it out on somebody. Since I was the nearest driver, I became the target of a colossal dive bomb at the hairpin. They spent the next couple laps trying to push me off the track and otherwise ruin my race. They went into the pits on lap 6 and I considered resuming my race, but by that point I figured I was too far behind to get a decent result. I parked in the pits on the next lap and had some lunch while I waited for the race to finish.

I finish P15 for 50 points and a 5.0% drop in my DR B progress, down to 59.1%.


Team Aston Martin - V12 Vantage GT3 '12 - GT2 - Americas - 1 PM EST - Door #7 - 109 points available - Q2 (1:27.817)

Qualifying went unbelievably well, better than any lap I'd done in my practice races or Free Practice.

I decided I needed to go with a tire-change strategy on this race if I was going to have any hope of keeping up with the leaders.

I dropped a couple spots to P4 pretty early on, but managed to stay in contact with the lead group. There were two Ferraris (red and blue) and an AMG ahead, and we managed to pull away from the rest of the field pretty early on.

I pitted on lap 10 for fresh tires. The red Ferrari went in earlier. The blue Ferrari and AMG stayed out longer.

Shortly after pitting, the AMG got taken out by a backmarker who hadn't pitted yet, leaving me and the two Ferraris fighting for podium positions.

I challenged the Ferraris a few times, but I wasn't able to convert them into positions.

I crossed the line in P3 for 100 points. I'll take it. DR B was up 4.0% to 63.1%.

That was a mixed bag of experiences for the day. I'm glad I got some decent results out of it in the end. I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

 

[MCL1974]

Met the best and the worst today...

First attempt and qualifying went amazing, got second place with my third lap, even faster then my practice times!!! No clue were that lap came from!?

Start went okay till that last tight turn when a Citroen started bowling a bit and shoved me wide and hit me again when going back on track. At the end of the straight I attempted an overtake and made a light contact...but in the wrong place and it pushed him wide and I got second place again. Didn't think much of it, the contact was accidental but with his earlier conduct I was not feeling guilty for very long.

But I made a mortal enemy, at the tight bend he rammed me of again, ruining his own race and costing me a couple of places. Then I did something stupid, I pitted early and guess who was cought up with me when I exited the pits? yep....

He did not go into the pits, seems it was more important to target me and at the end of the race he was close enough to hit me again. He got in front, served his penalty and hit me again. End of race....



But decided to have another go, last split and this time qualifying went pretty horrible, could not find me rhytm and was 12th.

But start went okay, managed to stay out of trouble and made a few places, a few nice overtakes and some crashing out got to to eight place behind a Ferrari and just behind me a Frenchman in a Porsche.

Decided to pit early again and this time it worked, it got me a place and the Frenchman was about 2.5 seconds behind me with 10 laps to go. But the Porsche got closer and closer and soon he was right behind me. I could get away a bit on the straights but in the twisty part he was right behind me again.

Then made a small mistake lap 19 and got a 0.5 second penalty. Served it in the final lap and decided to defend that last corner as all evidence showed this guy was a clean racer, so no real worries for a crash. And so this happened:



How close was that!? Made a nice new friend; merci bien for that clean race!!

 

[ZEE]

GTWS - ROUND 3 - MANUS CUP - EMEA UK TIMEZONE 7PM - HIGH C LOBBY - F296

Soooooooo....this round did not go to plan at all. I was only able due to a busy day of work to catch the last two GT3 UK timeslots at 8 and 9pm respectively. It was a real shame they ended in disastarouss results. My first race was ok but pace was way off for the Ferrrari to really be competitive comapred to the last two previous rounds. Coudl not quite get the rhythm right.

It could have been a factor of things making me feel slow in this round, but usually I'm quite strong at Deep Forest!
Finshed 10th and this was my only good result!!!

I tried again in the 9pm slot, this was even more barbaric, as I got T-boned but some idiot child from Swisszerland and he was driving a Ferrari too, while emulating a really bad Ferarri driver and he went up to ram me on the final U bend turn causing engine damage! I still managed to finish all the while he quit like a coward and ran away, but his pompousness is on my channel now in a short showing his bad driving behaviour!

For this, Finished 12th and not much to show for it! Hopefully Round 4 will be good....at ze Nurburggg!

 

[VTEC Driver]

It's been a day...

Team Renault - R.S.01 GT3 '16 - GT2 - Americas - 11 AM EST - Door #2 - 121 points available - Q6 (1:28.019)
View attachment 1507551
I'd planned to go with a no-tire-change strategy for this race and all the chaos of lap 1 confirmed that this was the only sane choice. Another driver in a Ferrari apparently had the same feeling. We both pitted at the end of that first lap and exited to some clean air.

I didn't want to waste time battling, so I just followed behind. A couple laps later, the Ferrari lost the rear end of the car on turn 10, onto the back straight, and I pulled ahead as they got the car straighten out.

By the time everybody was done pitting on lap 13, or so, I was in P4, with a healthy lead over the Ferrari. At some point, I noticed that the Ferrari had been overtaken. It wasn't long before there was pink-wheeled Porsche on my tail. There wasn't any point in trying to fend them off with my worn tires, so I let them by on turn 1, dropping to P5.

That's where I finished for 101 points and a 2.7% increase in my DR B progress, bringing it to 78.4%.



Team Aston Martin - V12 Vantage GT3 '12 - GT2 - Americas - 12 PM EST - Door #10 - 120 points available - Q7 (1:28.271)
View attachment 1507559
Since the no-tire-change strategy worked so well in the previous race, I decided to try it again.

Everything was going well until lap 3, when I passed a Toyota who was recovering from an incident. Apparently the incident had left them so fuming angry that they had to take it out on somebody. Since I was the nearest driver, I became the target of a colossal dive bomb at the hairpin. They spent the next couple laps trying to push me off the track and otherwise ruin my race. They went into the pits on lap 6 and I considered resuming my race, but by that point I figured I was too far behind to get a decent result. I parked in the pits on the next lap and had some lunch while I waited for the race to finish.

I finish P15 for 50 points and a 5.0% drop in my DR B progress, down to 59.1%.


Team Aston Martin - V12 Vantage GT3 '12 - GT2 - Americas - 1 PM EST - Door #7 - 109 points available - Q2 (1:27.817)
View attachment 1507562
Qualifying went unbelievably well, better than any lap I'd done in my practice races or Free Practice.

I decided I needed to go with a tire-change strategy on this race if I was going to have any hope of keeping up with the leaders.

I dropped a couple spots to P4 pretty early on, but managed to stay in contact with the lead group. There were two Ferraris (red and blue) and an AMG ahead, and we managed to pull away from the rest of the field pretty early on.

I pitted on lap 10 for fresh tires. The red Ferrari went in earlier. The blue Ferrari and AMG stayed out longer.

Shortly after pitting, the AMG got taken out by a backmarker who hadn't pitted yet, leaving me and the two Ferraris fighting for podium positions.

I challenged the Ferraris a few times, but I wasn't able to convert them into positions.

I crossed the line in P3 for 100 points. I'll take it. DR B was up 4.0% to 63.1%.

That was a mixed bag of experiences for the day. I'm glad I got some decent results out of it in the end. I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

Hi,
I have already noticed that sometimes a driver goes back to the pit and wait for the end of the race instead of to disconnect.

Which is the reason behind of that?
Are you going to be loose less point in this way than for a voluntary disconnection?

Thanks for explaining that.

 

[Zorz]

Hi,
I have already noticed that sometimes a driver goes back to the pit and wait for the end of the race instead of to disconnect.

Which is the reason behind of that?
Are you going to be loose less point in this way than for a voluntary disconnection?

Thanks for explaining that.

I'm not 100% certain but I believe there are penalties for quitting out of Sport Mode races after matchmaking has taken place.

I'm pretty sure you lose some SR for it. Possibly also a DR penalty for it on top of the DR loss from coming last, but less confident about that.

 

[Talon16]

Hi,
I have already noticed that sometimes a driver goes back to the pit and wait for the end of the race instead of to disconnect.

Which is the reason behind of that?
Are you going to be loose less point in this way than for a voluntary disconnection?

Thanks for explaining that.

You lose quite a bit of DR and SR for quitting a race; however, by parking it in the pits until the end you only lose DR.

 

[Moose78]

Which is the reason behind of that?
Are you going to be loose less point in this way than for a voluntary disconnection?

Two things:

1. If you quit a race, it impacts your SR rating in addition to your DR. If you wait in the pits it only affect your DR.
2. If you stay in the pits to the end, you finish ahead of any drivers that quit, which means you lose slightly less DR.

 

[afc5150]

Just too darn slow in the Porsche at Deep Forest.

Americas slot 6, GT2, 134 point lobby, door 10.

Q14 to P10, and most of the gains were from some "incidents" ahead. Driving standards were questionable from where I was sitting.

Ah well, on to the Ring and hope for better result.

 

[dazdilly75]

Well, this was certainly better than the nightmare round I had at DT Gardens, where I witnessed Super GT (who was in the last slot with me) qualify 3rd and forget to change his tyres to wets, thus forfeiting his entire race and ending his stream. Poor Steve! Anyway....

Team Renault
Slot 1, 245 point (majority A+) lobby
Door # 14
Q: P9 with 1:27.389
F: P6 194 points ( A season high so far)

A lobby of vaired cars, most of them faster than the RS.01, but when have I ever let that deter me. The main issue I was having against the other cars was straight line speed. Half of Deep Forest is pure power track, and although the Renault is great at handling, it's not so much better that it's able to get away from the other MR meta' like the R8, 296 and 911.

Making up 3 places in this very fast field, was an achievement in itself. I drove the wheels off the Renault, and it paid off, with my highest points so far this season. The next 2 rounds at Nurb 24 and Spa are where this car will shine, so I'm hoping for much better results. I'm currently 3rd overall for Renault in EMEA, as it seems like most of the drivers are struggling with these combos!

I've attached my replay for anyone interested. Good luck in the second half of the season guys!

 

[DanHOW]

What are you guys thinking strategy wise for nurb24? 2RM and 3RS is what I was thinking, fuel thoughts?

 

[BGreenFace]

Alright just finished and it when surprisingly good.
Started p6 with a 1:27.8**
Gt2 lobby all DRB and SRS door 5

The start was ok and I experienced your average turn 1 on lap 2 and somehow how managed to overtake the genesis of “speed demon” and the other Porsche. Don’t ask me how we all got to turn 2, I have no idea.

Tired of the constant fighting I decided to pit early on lap 3 and decided to change tire just to be safer during the closing stages. I exited around 2 seconds behind a BMW m6 who had crashed earlier. I think it started only a few places behind me so I knew he was quick and I just managed to keep up with him. It went well for 4 lap until he lost it a the tunnel entrance. Then I simply managed my own race and once the pit phase was done I was 7 seconds ahead of the z4 in blue. For the last few lap him and a Ferrari started to catch up and a penalty on the final lap for me meant the final airpin would be the hardest I ever had. I kept to the inside while the Ferrari wheat for the outside and he would have a made the switch back move on me if it wasn’t for the z4 dive bomb.

Somehow no contact were made but it was enough to kept the Ferrari away from me. I don’t approve the dive bomb but it did help me keep my p5.
Got a healthy 116 point so very happy for this track on which the 911 is not the best. Now onto the Nurburgring with a special design on the car. See you guys there 😉

 

[GT5Apex]

That was another meh... performance for me in the manufacturers cup, i don't have the best pace around Deep Forest.

I attempted 2 slots today, which were the first and last EMEA GT1 slots.

First Slot (5pm UK)
In the first slot, i qualified P13 with a 1:27.7, and i finished in P14. Nothing really interesting happened in the race, but i did have a good battle with a german in a BMW, who i managed to overtake into T1 at the start of lap 17.


Final slot (9pm UK)
I decided to go again in the final slot of the night, and once again i qualified P13 with a 1:27.7.

The race never got off to the best start since on lap 1, i messed my braking up a little bit into the hairpin and bumped a little bit into a BMW, and then at the start of lap 2, i missed the apex a little bit, and gave another small bump to a car next to me, this time being a lambo. I got annoyed with myself and pulled over to the side and thought about quitting, but i decided against it, so now i was just over 3 seconds behind the pack.

I did managed to close the gap a bit to the back of the field, since i managed to get the gap down to 1.8 seconds. I entered the pits at the end of lap 8 and put on fresh mediums.

After the rest of the field pitted at the end of lap 10, i was now right behind a supra, and spent the next couple of laps trying to overtake them, which i finally managed to do at the hairpin on lap 13. Then over the next couple of laps, i slowly caught up to a BMW, but unfortunately i couldn't overtake them. I did have to watch my back during the last lap since a supra that had crashed, was right on my tail.

In the end i finished in P10 for 169 points, thanks to other cars crashing.

I do wonder if i never fell 3-4 seconds behind the field at the start of lap 2, if i could've got a slightly better result, since me and the BMW didn't finish too far behind P8-P6.

 

[Talon16]

What are you guys thinking strategy wise for nurb24? 2RM and 3RS is what I was thinking, fuel thoughts?

Yes. Did a couple practice runs in the Z4 and the overall pace doing 3xRS and 2xRM was about seven seconds faster. The RS can do four but the left front is almost dead (I'd say ~5% left).

On the Ferrari 296 I've only tried the 4xRS and 1xRM, where both left side tires were probably ~10%-15%. The 296 wears tires much more evenly than I suspect the FRs will or the more 'twitchy' MRs (like 458, Lambo, Audi) will. Even still I think running the RMs for two laps is likely better.

Add dirty air and racing into that and the tires will die off even quicker.

That being said, if you and/or your car is really good on tires (McLaren, Citroen, maybe GT-R) a 4xRS and 1xRM may be better.

The big question will be, which to start on? Probably depend on starting position.

The Z4 needed fuel but the 296 didn't... barely, pit on lap 4 with 1.0 fuel remaining showing. But, very minor fuel saving throughout and it would be fine. Could save a few seconds in the pits alone .

 

[BGreenFace]

Could it be worth qualifying on the medium?
What are your thoughts..

 

[Yard_Sale]

No Manu for me today, but I did some tire testing for NBG yesterday and will continue tomorrow. Strongly considering getting used to the 296 because as Talon mentioned, you can get 4RS laps out of it. That 4th RS lap is slower than any RM lap would be, but if a 1RM-4RS strategy gets you clean air most of the race, it could be worth it.

If I can get my 296 qually times within 2 seconds of my 458 times, I might go for it….just to have the 1-4 strategy as a viable option. If you’re up front, the 2-3 strategy WILL be the fastest regardless of car

 

[DanHOW]

I tried a lobby race (in the RCZ) and needed just a splash of extra fuel to finish. After 3 laps on softs it said 1.9 laps left. I may try to up sift a hair earlier to conserve just a tiny bit of fuel.

Also, I don’t see it being faster trying for 4 laps. After 3 I had about 30% left. Not worth it to push them in race conditions. Dirty air and such.

 

[tankuroded]

Manufacturer standings after round 3:

Battle for the cutline:

Pos	Manufacturer	Points	Gap
9​	Citroën	181​	+24.5​
10​	Lexus	180​	+23.5​
11​	Volkswagen	177​	+20.5​
13​	Mazda	151​	Partner
12​	Nissan	156.5​	-20.5​
14​	McLaren	123​	-54​
15​	Genesis	98​	-79​
16​	Jaguar	88​	-89​

 

[Zorz]

Could it be worth qualifying on the medium?
What are your thoughts..

It's never worth qualifying on anything other than the fastest tyre IMO, even at N24.

If tyre wear is a concern, just take the out lap slow so there's very little stress put on them. Don't go full speed, brake early and gently or coast etc. 15 minutes to get around once and start the flying lap should be more than enough.

Edit - I thought tyre wear in qualifying was still only a GT1 thing. Looks like GT2/3 have it now too looking at the website.

 

[Pakiti]

Hey, guys!
It's a deep forest, a track I understand, so I expected a good result, which I did. I did a fair amount of practice, which helped me understand it even better and improve my time, and maybe someone will find my findings useful:
1. After exiting the first tunnel, I used to slam on the brakes, but now I just slow down a little, applying no more than 50% force. This allows me to take it much smoother and faster.
2. I used to brake before the first turn on the straight, which often resulted in me going wider than I wanted. Now I point the car straight at the apex and brake on the straight as I head toward the apex, which only gave me about 0.3 seconds.

Qualified 8th, with a decent, but not great, lap. I knocked out a competitor on the very first lap at the hairpin, using the brakes. I simply had nowhere to go. It was a weak excuse, and the 3-second penalty was definitely deserved. When the heat died down, I was in a group of three cars: a Porsche in sixth place, myself in seventh place in a McLaren, and a Porsche in eighth place. Huge kudos to the Porsche driver in eighth place, and the Portuguese driver nicknamed MFS, who was breathing down my neck but didn't do anything crazy, even when I gave him space, expecting him to attack. It was his big mistake to follow me like that for about five laps. He definitely should have pitted for a tire change. He was going faster, but I couldn't overtake him.
After my pit stop on lap 10, I remained in seventh place. Porsche and I in sixth place were running slightly faster than fourth and fifth place, which allowed us to catch them by the end of the race. Porsche began to battle them, but I decided to watch for now, and my tactic worked. At the hairpin, all three of us—fourth, fifth, and sixth—collided, which allowed me to move up to fifth place and chase fourth place. However, fourth place started to go a little faster, probably because he was no longer being attacked. I was running 1.5-3 seconds behind fourth place, and the drivers in sixth and seventh place seemed to have started to battle and allowed me to not worry about protection. We continued like that, and only on the last lap did fifth place in the 296B start actively catching me. I thought it was the guy I knocked out in the hairpin on the first lap, and I was thinking of giving him 5th place just as an apology, but I wasn't sure it was him, so I stayed in 5th.

This is my best result in the DP B league, and I consider it a success.

As usual, I don't take any photos; I always forget to take them. I hope I won't forget them at the next stage.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, on lap 16, I got another message saying the controller was low on battery! I was sure it wouldn't last the rest of the race and I'd have to try another slot, but it shut off one minute after the race ended!

 

[VTEC Driver]

Well, this was certainly better than the nightmare round I had at DT Gardens, where I witnessed Super GT (who was in the last slot with me) qualify 3rd and forget to change his tyres to wets, thus forfeiting his entire race and ending his stream. Poor Steve! Anyway....

Team Renault
Slot 1, 245 point (majority A+) lobby
Door # 14
Q: P9 with 1:27.389
F: P6 194 points ( A season high so far)

A lobby of vaired cars, most of them faster than the RS.01, but when have I ever let that deter me. The main issue I was having against the other cars was straight line speed. Half of Deep Forest is pure power track, and although the Renault is great at handling, it's not so much better that it's able to get away from the other MR meta' like the R8, 296 and 911.

Making up 3 places in this very fast field, was an achievement in itself. I drove the wheels off the Renault, and it paid off, with my highest points so far this season. The next 2 rounds at Nurb 24 and Spa are where this car will shine, so I'm hoping for much better results. I'm currently 3rd overall for Renault in EMEA, as it seems like most of the drivers are struggling with these combos!

I've attached my replay for anyone interested. Good luck in the second half of the season guys!

Very nice driving.
Did you raced with cockpit view or you just selected it for the video?

 

[24HuresdeLoL]

A good race was surely had today at Deep Forest Raceway. Running with the ol' faithful Jaguar F-Type, (and with a slowly deteriorating internet connection) ,it is a bit of a struggle around the middle sector but the first two are straightforward enough to help me get into the mid-1:27's and a top 5 in qualifying.

The race started crazy enough, from a crowded 5th-to-7th-to-5th in a lap. Staying behind cars that were more nimble than I was, but I could keep up with them close enough. After the pit stops, however, is when it all popped off. Ferrari got a 0.5 second penalty in front of me, and they were defending for their life. So much so that I sent it up the smallest of gaps on the front straight, made it stick, and then got sent on a couple corners later.

This first battle ended with the Ferrari spinning out of the left hander from the back straight, but begun a newer battle with a Corvette 2/3 tenths faster than me on fresher tires. A battle for the remaining laps were nerve-racking, and was definitely better out of corners than me, but a snaky rear-end from the Corvette out of the final corner was enough to hold them off for a solid 3rd place!

Replay:
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