This combo for round 2 is brutal. The track and car demand absolute concentration at all times, just to avoid going off the track. I expect a lot of carnage on Saturday.
I've been doing a lot of testing today to figure out whether I should change tires or not on the mandatory pit. Right now, the no-change strategy is looking like the faster option for me, but there is so much variability in my lap times, I'm not sure I trust it.
For the tests, I did 25-lap custom races against one AI opponent. In all the tests, I pitted at the end of lap 12 as this is likely the optimal point for the tire-change strategy. Obviously, if you are doing a no-change strategy, you can pit at any time. Pitting on the same lap makes the comparisons easier.
I did two tests for each strategy -- tire-change and no-change -- then constructed an 'optimal' race picking the faster of each lap. Since the first 11 laps are strategically equivalent, I took the fastest laps across all the tests for those laps.
I'm a bit surprised that I didn't see more of an effect on my lap times from tire wear. Apparently the way that I'm driving around the track is equally slow regardless of whether I'm on fresh or worn tires.
I might do some more tests yet, but I suspect none of it matters. I feel like this race is going to come down to surviving. If I have fewer crashes than the other drivers, I should do well.
None fuel affected , my quickest is 1.06.3. Did a lobby run last night, exhausting! Fasted with fuel I think was mid .07
Q8: held up on every lap. Carnage as expected, finished 3rd (just) 20secs off lead, with just 1 spin that cost 14secs
Did a late pit on lap 20, so I could run in clear air. Didn't change tyres. Was real pressure at end to hold off 3rd, dunno if they were keeping up cus they changed tyres or they were just better than me (I'm high B, knocking on A's door, possibly next cup series😬). Lobby quit before I could save for review.
So no idea what I'm gonna do Saturday, I can't even play by ear as I'm blind in VR to gaps behind, engineer app doesn't give out gaps😒
Found Casters guide after I'd finished, will try his bb setting tonight.
I feel like I have decent pace here but I can't seem to find a consistent and safe way to take the fast left-hander up the hill. Need a lot of practice to make it through there 25 times in a row.
Quali will also be a challenge I think. With 16 cars and such a short lap time traffic may play a big part. In any case I am excited for Saturday 🤗
I've been doing practice races against Sophy all week. I'm starting to think that a tire change might actually be comparable to skipping the tire change in terms of overall time.
Still, I'm going to be very tempted to pit on lap 1 -- or if I'm near the front, stay out until lap 24 -- just to avoid the chaos in the mid-pack, which seems bound to land me in the sand at some point.
I've managed to improve my pace a bit. I hit a 1:07.4 in Free Practice yesterday. I figure that should be decent enough for North American GT2 league. With fuel consumption and tire wear in custom races, though, the best I can do is low 1:08s.
I've been doing practice races against Sophy all week. I'm starting to think that a tire change might actually be comparable to skipping the tire change in terms of overall time.
Still, I'm going to be very tempted to pit on lap 1 -- or if I'm near the front, stay out until lap 24 -- just to avoid the chaos in the mid-pack, which seems bound to land me in the sand at some point.
Food for thought, it's very difficult to pass at Laguna. Track position may end up being king.
PS - I've not done a single lap on this combo so take that with a grain of salt. But, if overall race times are similar I am picking track position here.
I had the same thing happen in free practice while running on the edge of the track. First time was just after the penalty zone and I thought it was a glitch of some kind because it was totally unexpected. I then had it happen on the right side of the track after running down cones at the first chicane. Was racing AI as practice and passed on to outside.
I can’t recall it ever happening before but took it as something to remember in race if hunting for wet conditions on a drying track.
Dammit, if only I knew of this before I tried to finish off the weekly challenges last night. I was nursing my overheating Inters on the last lap as everyone else pitted for slicks, that turned my 10 second lead after the Daytona (1st Hunaudieres) chicane into a 5 second deficit.
I've been doing practice races against Sophy all week. I'm starting to think that a tire change might actually be comparable to skipping the tire change in terms of overall time.
Still, I'm going to be very tempted to pit on lap 1 -- or if I'm near the front, stay out until lap 24 -- just to avoid the chaos in the mid-pack, which seems bound to land me in the sand at some point.
I've managed to improve my pace a bit. I hit a 1:07.4 in Free Practice yesterday. I figure that should be decent enough for North American GT2 league. With fuel consumption and tire wear in custom races, though, the best I can do is low 1:08s.
From the practice lobby races I've done overtaking wasn't really a problem, it seemed too easy to make tiny mistakes in corners that massively affect the exit speed so position swapping seemed quite common. Keeping it mistake free for 25 laps was the biggest challenge, especially the corner before the corkscrew, though I have found you can cut it and drive over the sausage without it ruining everything unlike the other ones.
Another thing I noticed was the short lap times and ease of making mistakes can lead to being lapped quicker than you might think - something to be aware of if you're going for a no change strategy and leaving your pit until the last lap.
+2 would wear the rears, but minus is front bias. Been playing with -2 and getting some lockup in the hard braking zones. It’s manageable but -1 might be faster. Testing that next. I have a python script the ai made for me that can capture wheel slip individually (among other things) and whether it’s on tarmac or kerb or whatever surface. So it’s more than just by “feel” however it is in practice so the tires are at 100% the whole time.
I always run zero BB for everything. Any time I've tried tinkering with it, the effect has been so subtle that I can't distinguish it from the usual variations in my driving. It would take so many laps of testing to get a conclusive answer that I just don't bother trying.
Some reflections after a lobby race:
It is VERY slippery out of pits. I spun on the outlsp of Quali. Need like 50%throttle.
I was spinning on start even when I set TC to 2. Maybe 3 is faster at start.
Break earlier than you expect in T1 first lap. I hit P2, no break lights, no time to react. Be careful.
If you get dirty tires or front wing damage go slower than you expect. Same on lap 1 with cold tires. It is more noticeable than with gr3 cars.
Traffic spread out well even with similar DR. It was ok to race. I pitted in the middle of the race without changing tires to try it out. Will probably choose to change them if traffic allows. Pitting lap 1 is an option though, but my front right had around 40% left at end of race (BB+5, late evening). Difficult to manage in these cars.
I spun out 4x this race. Survival is the name of the game.
Edit: Weight difference is also more noticeable than in GT3.
New lobby, daytime dry weather. Pitted lap 1, was only really tyresaving in the fast left-hander after the corkscrew/blind chikane and ended with around 50% on my front right tire. I think this will be my go-to tomorrow tbh. Much easier to avoid traffic and focus on my own pace.
Edit: Wind direction was throwing me off the first few laps. Does it usually stay the same in the cup races as in free practice? So many small things are affecting these cars significantly it feels like.
Very useful Wilsonson, I will take some tips from Calster, I too am a controller user and can confirm it very skittish this car on Laguna! One spin and you done for! So gentleness is key.
GT2 EMEA 1st slot low A/S lobby 260 points up for grabs, 4 on the doors, TC 1 BB 0
Was feeling a little optimistic about this one, practice just before the race I even managed to get into the 1.06 range and consistent with a 1.07. This came to nothing however as I screwed up every single qualifying lap and was P14 with a 1.11 (P1 had a 1.05 which was a bit scary).
Come the race I do wonder about pitting early and not changing tyres but thought i wouldn't do well on worn tyres when mistakes cost you so much so decided to go for a pit halfway through and change tyres. Gained a few places from other's mistakes and lost a few from some I made, luckily nothing big enough to cause a spin. Managed to work my way up for 7th for 220 points and a DR increase so staying with that and not going again.
Tough race as you really have to be at max concentration the whole way through, and the fuel weight in the early stages can really throw you off. Good luck everyone!
Just did my race, low B (although creeping up to Mid!) lobby. Qualified in 5th with a 1:09 dead, was leading after the first hot laps but I never got another clean one. Pole ended up being 1:07.5 so I had no chance of that. Fastest lap in practice would have put me second though.
First lap the inevitable happened, clean through the first couple of turns and up to 3rd, then punted off, rejoined in 10th, punted off again. Was stone dead last by around 10 seconds halfway through lap 1. Decided to pit and not change tyres and go long! Opening lap was a 1:53.
Within about 3 laps I had caught up to the muppets in the rear. Obviously the knocked me off again and I only lost 11 seconds. I was consistently getting purple first sectors and decided to wait for the three ahead to kill themselves which didn't take long. Lap 7 I was up to 15th, Lap 8 13th, Lap 9 12th, Lap 11 11th. After all the pitstops I was up to P6, about 10 seconds ahead of 7th and growing to 16 seconds. P5 was about 5 seconds ahead and I was slowly catching about 0.250 a lap.
The tyres I definitely felt started to have a hairy patch between laps 10 and 12-13. After this though I think even though I was being slightly more cautious, the fuel burn off was keeping my lap times consistent. I was lapping pretty much between 1:09.0 and 1:09.5 the whole race for every lap I wasn't crashed off.
I was about 1 second behind 5th going into the last lap when I finally made a small mistake on turn 1 and ran wide due to tyre wear. This grew the gap ahead to 4 secs, but then 5th slid off at the corkscrew and quit!
I managed to come home in 5th but not without jeapordy as the guy who was P7 gained about 8 seconds on me in the last lap including 4 seconds in the final 3 corners. But I came out of the hairpin onto the straight and got good traction to come home.
Tempted to try the race later agaiin as I had the pace to finish P2-3 but I might just leave it
Thought I'd done an ok quali, (think mid .08) but only 7th. Pole was over 2.2 secs quicker!!.
Was dreading start... watching lobbys lastnight all the AT cars are going in fast and exiting slow - I TRY to do the opposite!.
Am I the only sucker doing MT?
If you use Calster's brakings spots, your gonna get hit from behind pretty much every hard braking zone as the ATs are braking a marker board later.
Anyway... clean start, got hustlted back to 8th, but generally a well behaved group.
Spinners in front gifted me back to 5th. Was happy there for 3 laps. Then... overshot into the T6 sandpit at the lefthander of doom going for 4th. Lost a tad under 12 secs. Rejoined 15th. Eased off any further attackng that corner of doom.
Caught traffic on 12 and pitted for tyres. Finished 4th. <13sec from 1st 🙇🤦♂️
Will quit whilst I'm kinda ahead!
Pole guy was doing high 1.05s and either quit bored on lap 18 or got disconnected🤔
(We knew this anyway).... don't spin, you have a fair chance (but way easier said than done)
I had the same thing happen in free practice while running on the edge of the track. First time was just after the penalty zone and I thought it was a glitch of some kind because it was totally unexpected. I then had it happen on the right side of the track after running down cones at the first chicane. Was racing AI as practice and passed on to outside.
I can’t recall it ever happening before but took it as something to remember in race if hunting for wet conditions on a drying track.
By the third race i mentally tried staying away from the edges of the track just in case. I also reduced my force feedback. I can't say it was a hardware issue but I had no problems on my last race and came P2. I had never had that happen before though but maybe single player is more forgiving than a GTWS race.
This was a wild ride. Did a test test against Sophy yesterday. Spun out tons and ran into the super slow AI all the time. Wasn't feeling too hopeful.
Today did 15 minutes of free practice before the race and somehow got the hang of it. I settled on TC 2 and ASM which I normally never use but this helped a ton to mitigate spins and wasn't slowing me down too much. I also somewhat managed to get the throttle control out of turns 3, 5, the corkscrew and the final hairpin right.
I was shocked to find myself in what appears to be top split in GT2 EMEA with 9 A rated drivers and a nice 252 pts up for grabs.
Qualifying was a total disaster. First flying lap I quickly approach someone with a 3 second penalty who seemed to take it slow. They went to the left towards turn 5 and I figured they'd let me take the racing line. Instead the punted me off into the gravel.
Second lap I ran into the back of a very slow driver who still hogged the racing line.
Lap 3 I just screwed up. Q15.
The race was fantastic though. No spins, only running wide through the super fast dipping left hander turn 6 to lose some time. Carnage around me. P12 by the end of the first lap.
Managed to snag P7 in the last lap from someone who seemed to struggle with worn tires. I changed tires on lap 14 when a faster front runner who had already pitted slowly approached me. Pretty sure that 214 pts is a personal records over some years of GTWS for me.
I am also pretty happy about a 1:07 flat for my personal fastest lap. FL overall was way into the 1:05s.
Unfortunately (once again) forgot to save the replay for some nice pictures.
Turn 9 I never know the right line, some were taking it tight, some slow wide entry and power out, I was sort of, in the middle and lifted off to coast round. All of them can result in going wide 😄
Haven’t shared many races for a while but wanted to encourage everyone to stay at it and don’t give up today.
Qualifying was okay 1:07.111 for p5 but the race was omg.
T1 abused a bit but made it out okay then punted big time in t3 Went p5 to p12 in two turns. Lap 2 I had made it back to p10 and a guy lost it coming out of t3 then spun into me as he didn’t ghost and threw me out to the barrier way off t3. Now down to p14 I decided my thoughts about pitting after the lap 1 antics would have been a good choice so I pitted and got clean air in which to make up ground.
As the pitting took place I kept moving up the field and I was shocked on lap 24 when p1 pitted bring me from p4 to p3 for a shocking podium 😱
I was happy having made it back to mid field but the second half of the race just kept coming together.
The turtle wins the race, or at least makes the podium 😅
Had my first ever outing in GT1 today as I missed round 1. Was 1st on the Door, 199 points for grabs. Qualified P9 with a 1.06.9. In quali my strategy was to set a safe lap first and then push harder but I spun out my 2 attempts at going faster. Disappointed with a quali lap 1.3 sec slower than my FP best but I was not worried about a P9 start as I was going to pit lap 1.
Having spun on my 2 push attempts and crashed multiple times in my 2 practice lobbies yesterday I knew I had to be very conservative to make it through the race. Some mishaps around me in lap one had me going into pits in P6 right away, no tyre change. I kept laps around low 1.08 to high 1.07 except for 2 late breaks in the corkscrew and 1 close call in the fast uphill corner. Managed to stay on track but it put me in high 1.09 for 3 laps and lost me a position.
Pic: Close call!
Around lap 15 I found myself in p7 and I kept gaining positions when others spun out. Had a British driver 4 sec behind me gaining fast with fresher tires. He caught up as we started the last lap, but some defensive driving kept him at bay. I finished p3 with 0 overtakes. More than I could ever hope for with this combo. 180 points to start my season! 🤗
GT2 - North America - 12 PM EDT - 248 points available (top split, again!) - Door #10 - Q10 (1:08.451)
A mediocre qualifying had me starting in the middle of the pack. It only took a few corners of that hectic action to decide I wanted to get out of it. I was the only one to hit the pits on lap 1.
I came out to clean air and put down a few decent laps. By lap 5, though, I'd caught up to a crowd of back-markers. Thankfully, they didn't hold me up much. All I had to do was wait for them to go into the sand, then scoot past them.
By lap 9 I was through the bunch and into some clean air again. Other drivers started pitting, and I jumped ahead. By the time all the pitting was done, I found myself in P4 with a 4-second gap to the car behind. Nice!
A few laps later, one of the race leaders quit the race, promoting me to P3.
The driver behind me was gaining on every lap and caught me around lap 18. I let them by without a fight. I didn't want to risk ending up in the sand. Down to P4 with a 10-second gap to the car behind.
That gap came down a bit, too, but I not enough to put me in any danger. I crossed the line in P4 for 230 points and a 3.4% increase to my DR B progress, taking it to 97.6%. I'm more than happy with that. Not going to try again.
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