Gran Turismo World Series discussion (2026 Manufacturers Cup Exhibition 2: Aug 22 - Sep 12)

[Cliph_Pang]

I think you're right, especially with how dry the first few laps are. It was the same in a stream that I watched. The moisture gauge never went into the blue stuff.

Possible, yes, but risky. If you are an expert at the S-10 License test, you might be able to get away with running slicks and post a better time than IMs.

I'm not that good, so I'm planning to go with IMs.

Good luck to everybody racing today!

Only expertise I could possibly claim would be randomness of general skill, so I stuck to IM 😊

I am only doing that once. My god, that's a nightmare combo and I cannot say I am a fan of that car, especially in the wet. Just doesn't feel like it wants to turn or stop, at least in my hands. Also a bit of a pain not knowing how fast you're going in VR. I felt like I was guessing braking points most of the time.

My qualifying got wrecked a bit by the guy who started P15 or P16. I'd backed off and left a gap on the out lap, only to then end up with someone who'd binned it and re-joined right in front of me at the end. I don't understand when people who've ruined their lap don't move aside when they get caught. I tried going for a dive into turn 1 out of frustration only to go too deep and ruin my second lap which I then quit out of.

I started P7, lost a position at turn 1 and another down the Kemmel Straight. Gained them back and then some due to chaos everywhere and was up in a fight for P4 for a while by lap 3.

Then I touched the right-side kerb going up Eau Rouge on lap 4 and spun it into the wall, dropping me all the way back down to P13 after I recovered and the damage disappeared.

The sheer number of deaths on this round is simply incredible because I still somehow ended up P6 for 210 points by the end, which I will happily walk away from this destruction derby with.

Well done @Cliph_Pang for the P5!

​

I realized after qualy that most of the lobby was way faster than me, I don’t understand where ya’ll find all that speed in the wet!?
So I put all my focus on survival, drove as safe as I could and I got lucky. Start P11, finished P5. I think none of my overtakes was thanks to me being faster, just not dead. Kinda feels wrong scoring good thanks to others bad luck.

Sorry to see u dying out there @Zorz , u were very fast

 

[stpatty]

First race, qualified 4th and would have finished 4th or 5th but I was struggling going over Raidillon and got punted, ended up 9th. Ran the whole race on inters and had no idea how anyone was doing this. After checking the replay I was going about 3 seconds a lap slower than the top two, although I could see where I was being too cautious.

Went again, qualified 5th and finished there. Not much to say besides a lot of people around me having the sort of races that would usually cause a pile-up, only I think they were all being too cautious to have a proper accident. I was within sight of 2nd until about lap 12, so I'm quite happy with this one.

The best racing I had was with a guy in a Piastri livery. Guy called Mao Zedong in a Benneton was a complete disaster. 165 points, good start. Also beat noted Super GT meme wifi password quite handily, pleased with that too.

 

[ZEE]

Well well PD had made the most sketchiest race ever with this one. F3500 in Spa in the torrential wet weather.....lovely!

GT3 Lobby - EMEA Region - 6PM SLOT - UK represent - GT F3500-B - Qualified 13th - Finished 4th - TC 2 - Door no.5

This was a real kicker to my skill level and I had to really control myself on my first initial race, so before I did the race I went to try and do this race at the 5pm slot and that went so horribly wrong. Spin after spin, bump after turn on turn, recovery after recovery, it was chaos. Many drivers spinning out on various corners as the variable intensity of the heavy rain caught many people out on IM tyres. In this first battle, I also kept hitting the little pilons in the corners of turns, and the car being so light went flying and spun backwards making me lose so many places. Also on the last lap I was leading 4th place but spun out on Eau Rouge and couldnt save it. So terrible, then I fell back to 10th and I ended that first (practice obv) race in utter dissapointment lol.

Ok Round 2, I wanted to perservere and try once more, it was the right decision. This race overall was much better as I stuck with it and the Wets strategy, no pitstop, and was going strong until lap 4 where I had a spun out, backend and had to recover best as possible. Then I managed to get up to 7th-6th place and some people I could captilise on as they ran Inters for sometime during the race. I was pushing tough up to 4th, then I had a spinout on turns Malmedy and Bruxelles late into lap 11-12, which cost me two places dearly. I then had to chase them back down and recover my position luckily one guy I caught with a hard push with the F3500 in this wet weather. Luckily one guy pitted on the penultimate lap making him lose his place and I carried a solid final lap to finish strong in 4th.

Defo not doing that race again lol.

 

[Moose78]

GT2 - North America - 12 PM EST - Points available 108 - Door #4 - Q3 (1:57.955)

I felt like I could have done better on my qualifying time, but I how can I complain with Q3?

I kept with my decision to run an IM no-stop strategy.

I jumped into the lead right off the start of the race. The pole-sitter got a terrible exit out of La Source so I easily got by them on the way to Eau Rouge. The Q2 driver must have lifted going through Radillon, which let me easily drive by on the Kemmel straight.

Or maybe it was just the slipstream, because they did the same to me on lap 2, sending me back to P2.

No matter. There was a decent -- and growing -- gap to the cars behind. I was happy to follow along and build the gap.

But then the rain came and leader started making little mistakes that let the cars behind catch up.

On lap 8, the driver behind made a dive a La Source. I went deep to avoid a collision, losing a spot in the process. Down to P3.

Happily, that driver caught up to the leader quickly. I was hoping that they would fight and I would be able to benefit from one of them killing the other (or both together). They came in contact trying to go side-by-side at Les Combes and the challenger ended up on the losing end of it. Sadly, I wasn't able to cleanly get by, though.

We briefly went side-by-side, but I decided to back out as we approached Rivage/Bruxelles. I was carrying more speed than I wanted and made the mistake of downshifting to first gear to slow the car down. Around I went for a spin (pictured above). I lost two positions as I attempted to get the car to point in the right direction again, which included another spin because this car for some reason can't even roll down a hill without spinning. Down to P5, 15 seconds behind the leader.

Not much happened after that. One of the drivers ahead of me quit at one point, promoting me to P4, which is where I finished. I was able to reduce the gap to 12 seconds, which suggests I had the pace for a win if I hadn't spun. If only. Anyways, that gave me 95 points for this opening round and a 3.4% boost to my DR B progress, taking me to 68.6%.

That's good enough for me. Not going to try again.

Next, on to CGV. I have to say I'm rather dreading it.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

The recording doesn't do justice to just how much I crapped myself here 😆

I went again after this and finished 4th but I'm not a fan of these cars, it feels like you're constantly fighting the understeer (even in the dry) as though the front tyres aren't working properly.

 

[VillaJ100]

Low B lobby, last slot of the night. Qualified 8th but nothing if not gentle in tricky conditions and ran most of the race in 3rd. 2nd left on the 13th lap, before the guy now 3rd PIT manouvred me off at the bus stop before the last lap, after clean racing of me leading them for around 1.2 seconds most of the race. I lost about 12 seconds and finished 4th. The guy apologised after but was too pissed to respond.

The recording doesn't do justice to just how much I crapped myself here 😆

View attachment 1512636

I went again after this and finished 4th but I'm not a fan of these cars, it feels like you're constantly fighting the understeer (even in the dry) as though the front tyres aren't working properly.

Ironically I think the F-3500 has too much downforce, I don't think mid 90's F1 cars could take Eau Rouge flat.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Ironically I think the F-3500 has too much downforce, I don't think mid 90's F1 cars could take Eau Rouge flat.

It's more the low speed grip where the car feels bad, I get it's not generating the downforce there to fall back on but the mechanical grip feels pretty woeful. In the race I was flat out through Eau Rouge/Raidillon every lap on inters, that wouldn't even happen with modern F1 cars.

I think that section was straightened over the years too and the kerbs flattened which made it a slower corner back in the early 90s.

 

[mastretta_mx]

GT3 league here (Yes I am bad and don't race online often, basically only the qualifiers and exhibition series).

Started P2 after qualy, the the guy behind punted me on Le combes, spin and went to P15, I was able to recover and end on P5, fun race but a bit chaotic if you don't race often on rain😅

 

[tmtk]

GT1 debut, first US slot, low A lobby, 158 points for the win, door 13

A 1:58.3 gave me 8th on the grid, who would've thought? Expected close to dead last.
Started on wets, because I'm no good with inters in heavy rain and it was the safest bet (only practiced with full wets).
Held a top 10 place in first few laps, but then made some small mistakes on my own and went very wide in two places loosing some spots, down to 14th.

But the carnage was still ahead, yellow flags left and right, people unable to manage inters from lap 5 onwards I think.
I was only counting spin outs and offs... the counting got me to P6 at one point ().
Ofcourse some fast guys from the spin outs and incidents kept recovering and passing me, but we also caught some slower cars from the pack.
So finally I finished 7th, and yeah, it felt like a win somewhat. Without my own errors a top 5 would be on the cards.

118 points in GT1 and some small DR gain. Cool.
Thanks to the weather though...

 

[DanHOW]

I didn’t have any time to practice the past few days but had a couple hours free so i figured what the heck…did 15 min of practice laps and raced.
Mid Dr-B GT2
Qualified 2nd with a low 1:57. Pole was 1:56.2.

Stayed on ints the whole race, spun a few (more like 5-6) times and finished 7th.

Looking back I should have gone on full wets at lap5. Slower but more stable.

Either way not too bad for a no prep.

 

[tankuroded]

Nations standings as of round 1:

 

[Pakiti]

Once again, I forgot to save the replay to add some pictures to my report.

My GT2 debut was normal.
I qualified on wet tires (I just forgot to change to IM tires) in 12th place.

I was driving very slowly, or rather, very carefully. I used the Rim Shot technique in practice. It was really interesting! It seems that the F3500's enormous downforce makes the Rim Shot very dangerous. Coming out of Bruxelles, when you exit the wet line and cross a drier one, the sudden increase in grip simply throws the car in the direction of your steering input. The same applies to Pouhon, its second stage. I recommend everyone try the Rim Shot; it may not always be faster, but it's certainly an interesting experience. Although, strictly speaking, driving a Rim Shot on wet roads or on a dry track probably carries the same risk: on a wet track and a Rim Shot, there's the danger of crossing a dry track, while on an IM, there's the danger of crossing a wet track.

So, I drove like a tortoise, but quite safely, which allowed me to overtake only those who ended up on the grass, and there were quite a few of them! I finished in 8th place, having probably overtaken more than 12 times. It's just that those I overtook later caught up, overtook me, and then ended up on the grass again.

 

[ZEE]

Once again, I forgot to save the replay to add some pictures to my report.

My GT2 debut was normal.
I qualified on wet tires (I just forgot to change to IM tires) in 12th place.

I was driving very slowly, or rather, very carefully. I used the Rim Shot technique in practice. It was really interesting! It seems that the F3500's enormous downforce makes the Rim Shot very dangerous. Coming out of Bruxelles, when you exit the wet line and cross a drier one, the sudden increase in grip simply throws the car in the direction of your steering input. The same applies to Pouhon, its second stage. I recommend everyone try the Rim Shot; it may not always be faster, but it's certainly an interesting experience. Although, strictly speaking, driving a Rim Shot on wet roads or on a dry track probably carries the same risk: on a wet track and a Rim Shot, there's the danger of crossing a dry track, while on an IM, there's the danger of crossing a wet track.

So, I drove like a tortoise, but quite safely, which allowed me to overtake only those who ended up on the grass, and there were quite a few of them! I finished in 8th place, having probably overtaken more than 12 times. It's just that those I overtook later caught up, overtook me, and then ended up on the grass again.

Excuse my ignorance but whats a Rim shot??? What is it your referring to.....

 

[bduddy]

Was the only one to go with the wets in my single race (A+ NA). Started near the middle but fell waaaaay back to last and +20s by the end of lap 3. Between lots of crashes and just being faster, ended up in 3rd. I actually think the wets were faster overall, the problem is you would have had to fight through pretty much the entire field to make them worth it. Worked for me, probably not worth it at the top level? I saw very few others try them on streams and etc.

Interesting note for round 2 - some barriers have been added to the final chicane. Maybe making sure no one cuts and finishes a lap before a penalty can be applied? Also I didn't know they could do that just in a GTWS race.
EDIT - illustration of the barriers -

 

[Pakiti]

Excuse my ignorance but whats a Rim shot??? What is it your referring to.....

I really couldn't find any mention of this in English-language sources; perhaps it's called something else. I already wrote about it here: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...tions-cup-11-28-february.419218/post-14531705

I first learned about this when I watched a documentary about Senna many years ago. Before the race, I watched Calster's manual for the race, which showed exactly this same driving style and detailed it.

 

[Rash-182]

I didn’t have any time to practice the past few days but had a couple hours free so i figured what the heck…did 15 min of practice laps and raced.
Mid Dr-B GT2
Qualified 2nd with a low 1:57. Pole was 1:56.2.

Stayed on ints the whole race, spun a few (more like 5-6) times and finished 7th.

Looking back I should have gone on full wets at lap5. Slower but more stable.

Either way not too bad for a no prep.

Low 57's not too shabby for mid B! I am now high A, and in the two races I've done, that could have given you an easy top 8, maybe even top 5 in the first race. Think I did low 57 in one and high 56 in the other. One guy did a low 55 in my second race..no way I was gonna come anywhere close to that.

 

[DespicableBee]

The recording doesn't do justice to just how much I crapped myself here 😆

View attachment 1512636

I went again after this and finished 4th but I'm not a fan of these cars, it feels like you're constantly fighting the understeer (even in the dry) as though the front tyres aren't working properly.

🤣🤣🤣 Had exactly the same thing happen to me, its more scary in VR 🙉 must clip it and upload it later.

I had 1 chance in the final emea slots running GT2. Made a complete mess of QT and didnt post a time so started P16.
Made the (wrong) choice to do the race on IM and run TC between 2/3 and just take it easy to make sure i at least finished. It was sketchy to say the least 🙉 i am not a fan of these cars but i do love Spa so i just plodded along picking up spots when the heroes ahead came unstuck. After numerous hairy near misses and saves i finished P7 and was more than happy 😉
I must say, it was epic in VR, the effects, the noise everything.
I then tried a few laps at CGV for Saturday....i really hate that Red Bull 🤣 barely managed a 1:20.1 which is very very slow 🙉 will try again later

 

[DK]

My race was over by lap 2, I keep getting put in lobbies with the utter Kid Rock mosh pit of humanity. What's that, you've got a run on someone during quali because you could take Radillon flat? Screw you, it's onto the grass for you. Did you overtake someone around the outside of Blanchimont? Whoopsie, I forgot what this left trigger on my controller does at La Source!

 

[Zorz]

First look at round 2. This is going to be another bloodbath isn't it? People tend to struggle with the X2019 at the best of times and using it at CGV feels hard as hell.

I don't know how the aliens are doing 1:14s.

 

[GTWolverine]

Slot 1: Qualified 8th, over 1s off of pole. My race started with this...interesting exchange. I missed a shift, but it shouldn't have bogged my car down that much to the point that I basically stopped in front of the car that hit me.


I slowly worked my way up to near the Top 5 by less than halfway, and had just taken 5h on the run to Eau Rouge, when I got unsettled on the curve in Radillion and ended up in the wall, which dumped me down to 12th (last). I then started setting laptimes way faster than the leader (who was the polesitter who qualified over 1s ahead of me). I caught up to the pack once again and was fighting for a Top 5 when I got shoved into the wall and spun on the start/finish straight after trying to go 3-wide around 2 cars that had messed up the chicane. Finished 11th of 12, and the only reason it wasn't worse was because so many people quit early on (including the 2 in the video above).

Slot 2: Qualified 10th and had a much less eventful race, minus a 2s penalty for outbraking myself into the chicane and rear-ending someone. I'd just moved up into 3rd on the penultimate lap after a pass into Les Combes, when this happened...


No idea if it was lag or if I somehow inexplicably lost traction, but the end result was I fell down to 7th, and the only reason it wasn't worse was because 8th was almost 50s behind me...

Slot 3: Qualified 7th, and almost had my race ruined on Lap 2 after nearly being spun twice when I got caught in the middle of pile-ups caused by cars running the Wet tires and holding the field up. I fell back down to 12th again but clawed my way up to 4th due to everyone crashing, plus 1 disconnect, and 1 actual overtake on the Kemmel straight. It was still only worth 227 points since I lost probably 10k DR in the Manufacturer's season trying to make the Corvette work (it didn't work)...

 

[Corwenho46]

Hi everyone. Has anyone else ever had a glitch or whatever you might want to call it where for some reason the game times your laps about 2 seconds slower than it actually was? I did the Spa Manufacturers Cup race a few weeks ago and was 100% convinced something was wrong with it, I was way slower in qualifying and race than I was in practice, 2 seconds a lap roughly as I say. After the race I went back to practice and sure enough I was immediately 2 seconds faster again.

I did the Watkins Glen race later and everything seemed fine, then did this Nations Cup Spa race again last night and back to this bizarre glitch. I was unable to get below 1:58 in qualifying where in practice I did 1:57.0 in wetter conditions. I did 2 races last night and both the same problem so 3 races in a row just at Spa. I can't explain this at all, it's like my game is in a timewarp at Spa, in the GR3 race I have it recorded and a lap that the game timed at 2:22 I timed on my stopwatch at 2:20. Has anyone ever heard of this or have any idea what is causing it?

 

[tankuroded]

Was the only one to go with the wets in my single race (A+ NA). Started near the middle but fell waaaaay back to last and +20s by the end of lap 3. Between lots of crashes and just being faster, ended up in 3rd. I actually think the wets were faster overall, the problem is you would have had to fight through pretty much the entire field to make them worth it. Worked for me, probably not worth it at the top level? I saw very few others try them on streams and etc.

Interesting note for round 2 - some barriers have been added to the final chicane. Maybe making sure no one cuts and finishes a lap before a penalty can be applied? Also I didn't know they could do that just in a GTWS race.
EDIT - illustration of the barriers -

This is similar to how "one-off" barriers were added in some time trials when needed (I remember one(s) at Streets of Willow having these).

 

[bduddy]

Hi everyone. Has anyone else ever had a glitch or whatever you might want to call it where for some reason the game times your laps about 2 seconds slower than it actually was? I did the Spa Manufacturers Cup race a few weeks ago and was 100% convinced something was wrong with it, I was way slower in qualifying and race than I was in practice, 2 seconds a lap roughly as I say. After the race I went back to practice and sure enough I was immediately 2 seconds faster again.

I did the Watkins Glen race later and everything seemed fine, then did this Nations Cup Spa race again last night and back to this bizarre glitch. I was unable to get below 1:58 in qualifying where in practice I did 1:57.0 in wetter conditions. I did 2 races last night and both the same problem so 3 races in a row just at Spa. I can't explain this at all, it's like my game is in a timewarp at Spa, in the GR3 race I have it recorded and a lap that the game timed at 2:22 I timed on my stopwatch at 2:20. Has anyone ever heard of this or have any idea what is causing it?

During practice you have no fuel and always perfect tires. Qualifying you have tire wear, and during the race you have tire wear and fuel weight. Your laps are slower, and your stopwatch is wrong.

 

[Corwenho46]

During practice you have no fuel and always perfect tires. Qualifying you have tire wear, and during the race you have tire wear and fuel weight. Your laps are slower, and your stopwatch is wrong.

I know that. You also have no fuel and basically zero tyre wear in qualifying as well so same conditions. I lost a second in sector 1 which is a corner and a flatout straight, this is simply not possible. I am not mistiming anything by 2 seconds with a stopwatch, I time my lap from start to finish and it says 2:20, the game says it was a 2:22. I'm racing in A+ lobbies, I know when something is clearly off like this. If I have to make a video to show it I can, the video will be 2:20 for the lap and the game will say it was a 2:22.

 

[Zorz]

I know that. You also have no fuel and basically zero tyre wear in qualifying as well so same conditions. I lost a second in sector 1 which is a corner and a flatout straight, this is simply not possible. I am not mistiming anything by 2 seconds with a stopwatch, I time my lap from start to finish and it says 2:20, the game says it was a 2:22. I'm racing in A+ lobbies, I know when something is clearly off like this. If I have to make a video to show it I can, the video will be 2:20 for the lap and the game will say it was a 2:22.

That Spa round had random weather. Maybe you had a favourable wind direction in free practice and an unfavourable one in the race?

 

[Blade_Rudder]

You also have no fuel and basically zero tyre wear in qualifying as well so same conditions

Qualifying normally states initial fuel to be ‘same as the race’. This means a full tank with no usage as opposed to practice which has fuel off, so an empty tank - 100kg lighter. Also tyre wear is usually on in qualifying. It will say in race details what the fuel and tyre wear are.

 

[bduddy]

I know that. You also have no fuel and basically zero tyre wear in qualifying as well so same conditions. I lost a second in sector 1 which is a corner and a flatout straight, this is simply not possible. I am not mistiming anything by 2 seconds with a stopwatch, I time my lap from start to finish and it says 2:20, the game says it was a 2:22. I'm racing in A+ lobbies, I know when something is clearly off like this. If I have to make a video to show it I can, the video will be 2:20 for the lap and the game will say it was a 2:22.

Even if the wear isn't much, tire wear being on at all means tire heat is a factor, which it isn't in practice.

 

[VTEC Driver]

So Saturdays' race will be a full flat with no stops and no strategy?

Maybe will be just a surviving game to avoid collision at the start and before the hairpin?

I will give a try... but not great enthusiasm...

 

[Corwenho46]

That Spa round had random weather. Maybe you had a favourable wind direction in free practice and an unfavourable one in the race?

Free practice and qualifying had the same wind, about 4m/s headwind into Les Combes. Free practice was actually worse because it was slightly wetter. A better comparison was the Gr3 race a couple of weeks ago which had constant weather and I had the same issue. 3 races in a row just at one track only, it's bizarre.

 

[Corwenho46]

Qualifying normally states initial fuel to be ‘same as the race’. This means a full tank with no usage as opposed to practice which has fuel off, so an empty tank - 100kg lighter. Also tyre wear is usually on in qualifying. It will say in race details what the fuel and tyre wear are.

This is not true. Fuel off means empty tank, you can see this if you look at the top guys quali times being faster than their race times. I've just done the latest time trial with the 911 at Spa and everything was fine, I did 17.9 on medium with no fuel. In the Manufacturers Cup race a couple of weeks ago I was doing 2:22 at the start of the race with mediums and full fuel, fuel does not make 4 seconds a lap difference.

Clearly it seems no one has seen this before, I can't find anything on the internet about it. I will try to upload a video or the replay at least from the Gr3 race.