Gran Turismo World Series

[Moose78]

Trial Mountain has never been very good to me, and it looks like that might be continuing this round. I enjoy driving the track, but it seems I'm well off the pace, again. Can't get under 1:30 in Free Practice, despite consistently getting there in my custom races.

Part of the problem is that I got used to using some of the billboards on the track as braking markers, but those are taken away in Free Practice. I'm expecting they will be there for the race, but it is annoying to jump into Free Practice and have to figure out new markers.

The right handed tunnel at the end is awkward because there is absolutely no marker for the optimal acceleration point

When I use the track in custom races, there is a poster on the inside wall that is useful for seeing how far around you've gone. I expect it will be there for the actual race.

 

[BluRacer7]

Is it possible to do a 3 stop?

 

[Moose78]

Can't get under 1:30 in Free Practice, despite consistently getting there in my custom races.

Just tried again, and had no problem getting it into the 1:29s. I wonder if I was running on RMs when I tried earlier...

Is it possible to do a 3 stop?

Perhaps, but I doubt it -- at least not for me. I tried punching a bunch of double-RS strategies into my simulation spreadsheet and the 9RS-9RS-11RM-1RH strategy came out fastest of them. It was 5 seconds faster than any of the 2-stop strategies, BUT... it doesn't factor pit time into the calculation. I don't know what the actual pit time is, but I'm pretty sure it is more than 5 seconds, so on paper it sounds like it wouldn't work.

Good luck to everybody racing tomorrow!

 

[ZEE]

Did some practicing and manged to get a good timfor now on RS tyres. Lets see how tomo goes, the X2019 is very bouncy on the elvated prats of trial mountain, just gotta chk my braking points right!

 

[goudaj]

Just did the 4th Oceania GT2 slot. It was lower point lobby (104), I was on pole with a 1:27.5 (fastest practice time was a 1:27.06 or something silly like that, I was never able to come close again). I did 11RS->18RM->1RH and it worked well, finished about 10 seconds ahead of P2.

 

[Wilsonson]

… Separate subject - This is not a popular season . . . and I believe the numbers bear this out. The participation numbers are rather small. …

6 player race in GT2. 100 point lobby. 2 A, 2 B, 2 C. From an Aussie streamer. "Midday on a Wednesday".

Just did the 4th Oceania GT2 slot. It was lower point lobby (104), I was on pole with a 1:27.5 (fastest practice time was a 1:27.06 or something silly like that, I was never able to come close again). I did 11RS->18RM->1RH and it worked well, finished about 10 seconds ahead of P2.

What did your lobby look like?

 

[goudaj]

What did your lobby look like?

13 players, this was at 4pm NZ time (4th slot). A couple of As, the rest Bs. Most started on medium, a few on hards.

 

[Zorz]

Is it possible to do a 3 stop?

Wouldn't recommend it. Based on my testing you won't come close to recouping a pit stops worth of loss unless you're really destroying your tyres.

 

[Famine]

6 player race in GT2

Yeah, that's the nail in the coffin for me.

Was already not enthused about X2019s (again), and while I do like one-makes, races with actual strategy, and Trial Mountain (and know the reverse version well enough to score points off people who don't), the first corner, the 30 laps with a knife-edge car and idiots who can't position a turd in the bowl, and my eyes still a bit sore from a retinal imaging yesterday were big ticks in the nope box.

While I know Oceania isn't the most populated region, reduced participation reduces the points available and the elevates the finishing requirements for not losing DR.

The hardest of all passes.

 

[D_Dragline]

Yeah, that's the nail in the coffin for me.

Was already not enthused about X2019s (again), and while I do like one-makes, races with actual strategy, and Trial Mountain (and know the reverse version well enough to score points off people who don't), the first corner, the 30 laps with a knife-edge car and idiots who can't position a turd in the bowl, and my eyes still a bit sore from a retinal imaging yesterday were big ticks in the nope box.

While I know Oceania isn't the most populated region, reduced participation reduces the points available and the elevates the finishing requirements for not losing DR.

The hardest of all passes.

I just finished the final GT1 slot in Oceania. I was in 2nd split AT WORST and there were only 7 of us.

Ironically, door 1 was a very high DR player so the points on offer weren’t terrible for me. (About 230 for the win, I came 3rd).

 

[MetalApe]

I just finished the final GT1 slot in Oceania. I was in 2nd split AT WORST and there were only 7 of us.

Ironically, door 1 was a very high DR player so the points on offer weren’t terrible for me. (About 230 for the win, I came 3rd).

It's not surprising really, with these total population sizes. It's really odd they split Oceania off with these numbers.

Figures from ChatGTP

Europe / Middle East / Africa (EMEA): ~2.5 billion
North America: ~600 million
Central & South America: ~650 million
Asia: ~4.7 billion
Oceania: ~43 million

 

[Famine]

It's not surprising really, with these total population sizes. It's really odd they split Oceania off with these numbers.

While also true, populations don't play. Only players play.

It's incredibly difficult to find actual figures for playerbases but there's very approximately 20% more PlayStation players in Europe than North America, about twice as many as Asia, roughly as many in South America as Asia, and then a tenth as many in Oceania.

That's roughly one Oceania player for every 10 in Asia or South America, 16 in North America, and 20 in Europe/EMEA.

Even then, that doesn't really reflect GT7 players. In terms of sales splits, previous games were... similar; EMEA varies from comfortably outpacing North America to about level-pegging (only for GT3 does North American beat EMEA), and Asia/Japan combined about half the lower of the two. Oceania has never been independently given (probably because as a Region 2 title its sales would have been included in European ones for pre-PS4 titles).

But it does all mean that you can basically expect the Oceania playerbase to be about 5% of EMEA's, 6-7% of North America's, and 10% of either the Asia or South America region's potential player population.

 

[Rangeraus]

Does anyone else have the same feeling I do in regards to participation? Thoughts on why?

OCE Nations Cup numbers in GT1 are down by about 37% from last year (albeit there is still 1 round to go).

In general there are a few reasons I can think of:

1. There are only 9 online spots available globally for the entire year. This is down from 12 last year and 36 the year before. In 2022 and before, there were multiple championships held throughout the year, with different competitors who could qualify for each.

A lot of people compete only because they have a chance (however slim) of qualifying and winning something material. So if there is only 1 person that qualifies in your region for the entire year, then the juice may not be worth the squeeze, regarding the time and effort required.

2. The time slots may not be viable for personal reasons.

3. As noted earlier, there was not an awful lot of variety in the (mostly high-downforce) vehicles in the combinations on offer this season.

4. Whether or not it is fair or correct, there is a perception that PD are going through the motions with GT7 at the moment. This is a separate topic by itself but it does affect the willingness of players to compete.

Just my opinion.

 

[Belos]

Hello 🙂

Great race today, except for people who still don't know that motorsport is non-contact, yes it's a game but at least a little respect.
P10 - P2 💪

 

[newmedia_dev]

I’m just throwing the flag in on this season, I just haven’t enjoyed any single round in the way that previously I’d have fun etc.

The fact I won’t even run full distance practices once or twice tells me what I need to know about what I think and my enjoyment levels.

Couple that with the fact the TT have been hit and miss and the dailies recently just as meh (for me) I have the motivation of a sloth on Valium.

 

[BluRacer7]

I know we need to use all the racing tires and thanks to Moose78 we have tire stats, I have done my pretty basic testing, the only thing I am wondering is, would it be better to use RH for the first couple of laps, then onto RM and finish on RS?

Unfortunately I can only do 9 laps on the Softs (starting on full tank), Trial Mountain in reverse makes getting smooth throttle exits much difficult due to the amount of elevation that can upset the x2019.

Guess I'm going for 9S-20M-1H. And I'm racing in higher split lobbies so I'm gonna have to rely on luck hoping everyone spins out since maintaining speed while being smooth to save the rear tyres at the same time isn't doable.

 

[Revengel]

I, too, just feel like I hit a particular (soft) wall.

While watching @DigitRacing for a few seconds on YouTube just now, I looked at the race and asked myself a horrific question:

"Do I care?"

I've never been this close to choosing not to race for that reason. I don't want to ruin anyone else's race (I'm not perfect; I know I have bottled a race for folks) and I'm certainly not going to be competitive, but normally the competitor in me juices take over and I do the best I can.

Tonight I'm considering this vs. taking care of my Cast Iron vs. Laundry vs. another round of the Sophy 590 cup.

It's not how confident I am in the fact the Sophy choice will win, it's why Sophy will win.


And it's the why that has me posting.

Sorry to doomscroll.

 

[Cerebral303]

I also fell off, just doing minimum number of races during championship season and the TT/weekly challenges.

This round has forced me to commit, and I appreciate the longer races but once it's over I don't know how much more I'm going to do.

Finished 10th, it was ok but would do a lot better if I could be bothered to run a second race. It's been a while since I've done that.

 

[Norbsthebald]

You know, I think that another reason why there seems to be a fair bit of apathy regarding this season (as well as the uninspiring and odd combo choices) is that there may be a feeling of cabin fever - this 12-race season comes almost straight off two back-to-back 8-race exhibition seasons (and let's face it, for 99.9% of us this is just a longer exhibition season with better prize credits, we've got no chance of getting to a live event unless we buy a ticket to get in).

Since the first week in February we will have had 28 GTWS rounds (29 if you count the Daytona rerun as a separate race). When you want to at least do a bit of prep for each race, and fit it all around real life (including trying to make life fit around odd timeslots) there's no wonder people are drifting away at the moment. Even me, and I love GTWS and will always do a round if I can, I can't wait for the season to end so that I can do other things in the game (try out Sophy/ do league racing).

Maybe with a summer off GTWS the appetite will return. In fact, if there is another exhibition straight after the "proper" season I might skip it for that reason.

Oh, in other news, qualified 7th in an upper-B race with a 1:28.2, started on RM and went 18M - 1H - 11S, avoided chaos and picked up a couple of places in the last 3 laps for P5. Happy with that.

 

[stpatty]

Before I post my recap, judging by some posts on this page I think some of you are missing the point. I've been doing championship races since 2018, using a wheel since 2019 and have followed the series and imagined driving in it - I know I'm nowhere near good enough to ever get close to that. I race because I enjoy playing the game and because I want to improve my DR and the scores I get. If you're not enjoying the races or have stuff on then fair enough, but if you want to play the game then just play it for its own sake.

 

[newmedia_dev]

Before I post my recap, judging by some posts on this page I think some of you are missing the point. I've been doing championship races since 2018, using a wheel since 2019 and have followed the series and imagined driving in it - I know I'm nowhere near good enough to ever get close to that. I race because I enjoy playing the game and because I want to improve my DR and the scores I get. If you're not enjoying the races or have stuff on then fair enough, but if you want to play the game then just play it for its own sake.

I’ve been playing this game since the first one on a PS1 that I left running while I went to school.

I’m playing this game online, in a dedicated rig with dd hardware, load cell pedals in VR.

Don’t confuse a bit of “meh” over the last few weeks of the games online modes across the board as general apathy. I have platinum on the game run 3 accounts at mostly A/S.

So playing the game isn’t the issue, it’s the game + (called online) that is hit and miss. This period in the game on ALL of the game modes online are weak, and when you’ve been a round the block a bit the “Sunday cup” doesn’t sound great.

We all come at this through different lenses.

 

[stpatty]

When I practice for these races I do a race against the AI> I start on pole which usually means I have a completely clear run, unless I crash or there's tyre strategy involved (the AI doesn't pit for tyres). This is great, but it doesn't prepare you for having to race against other people. In high downforce cars like the X2019 that can be quite the disadvantage, but fortunately I had a very clear race.

Qualified 4th, 7-9 tenths off the top 3 but only about 3 tenths ahead of 12th. I had more time on the optimum but wouldn't have started any higher. I know that clear air is the most important thing here but I wanted the softs at the end, so I started on mediums with the plan of doing M/H/S.

I got sandwiched at the first corners between a German and a Spaniard. Really, the Spaniard only made the right hander because he had two cars to push into. I stayed in his slipstream on the back straight and he made a mess of the left hander after the tunnel after the... tunnel. At the left hander before the uh, next tunnel, I had a slight overspeed and went for a move. We touched, and at the time I thought he just didn't look or think I would go for a move. Watching it back I still think that. I think he went for a mad lunge into turn 1 on the next lap because he absolutely sent it, but we got through alright.

My lap times on mediums were immaculate:

Pitted on lap 18 for one lap of hards. Soft stint went well enough, before lap 26 where a Brit in a Ferrari livery who had qualified ahead of me came out of the pits. Watching the replay I had to figure out what happened - I just realised he must've made the wrong tyre choice because he went on mediums for the second time here. Anyway, halfway of the back straight he veers over to the right. Great, he's letting me past I think. Nope. Takes the next corner the same at full speed. Ends up making a mess of the same corner the Spaniard did on lap 1, then goes into the pits at the end of the lap anyway. Clown.

I carried on making places as people pitted (including @SPDN Stefano - I knew I recognised that name) and had resigned myself to 4th. I even remember thinking, no point pushing now, you'll just go off on these tyres. Then on lap 30 I see the German I was sandwiched again at turn 1 coming out of the pits on hards. He was slow through the first sector and even slower on the turn onto the back straight. Then slow on to it. I know your game thanks, I'll just match your pace here and make sure I'm on the inside. I did get ahead but stayed on the inside at the end and then he went deep at the left after the short tunnel. Looks like he outbraked himself.

I brought it home in 3rd. Finishing time of 45:46 for 170 points.

(it didn't look this dark in the game sorry)

I know the X2019 isn't for everyone but when you realise where this car's limits are, where you can push and where you can't, driving it is so rewarding. Considering how badly I bombed Autopolis this absolutely makes up for it. I just keep looking at those lap times.

 

[stpatty]

I’ve been playing this game since the first one on a PS1 that I left running while I went to school.

I’m playing this game online, in a dedicated rig with dd hardware, load cell pedals in VR.

Don’t confuse a bit of “meh” over the last few weeks of the games online modes across the board as general apathy. I have platinum on the game run 3 accounts at mostly A/S.

So playing the game isn’t the issue, it’s the game + (called online) that is hit and miss. This period in the game on ALL of the game modes online are weak, and when you’ve been a round the block a bit the “Sunday cup” doesn’t sound great.

We all come at this through different lenses.

I didn't play GT7 for all of 2023 and the start of 24 because I hated the bop and I didn't enjoy it and I pulled the disc out of the console and threw it at the wall in a huff, so I absolutely get not wanting to play it. And the races in both of these "seasons" are terrible. And I'm biased because I've just had a great one. But I spent years playing GT Sport out of habit above all else, so if you don't like where GT7 currently is then there's no shame in letting it go for a while until something changes your mind.

 

[newmedia_dev]

then there's no shame in letting it go for a while

I know, and why I said I’m out, I am not enjoying it…..

Litterally said this season hasn’t been inspiring or fun, the weekly TTs are a bit hard work and the daily races also a mixed level of fun.

I have no shame not doing something I don’t enjoy.

There is no shame in not really meh things because you can.

 

[Zorz]

It's been a very frustrating day for me. I was looking forward to this round too.

Slot 1 was a complete write-off. Started P6 with a 1:27.169 and thought I'd try starting on the Hards in the hope of getting some free air to run in. Lap 1 was HORRIBLE. It seems like P2 had the same idea and it caused complete mayhem down the grid. I managed to survive up until the curved tunnel and then my race fell apart.

I'd had to take the sharp left-hander before it tight due to going 2-wide. I then wanted to get over to the right for the pits, but got completely overwhelmed trying to track what was going on via the radar in VR through the fast chicanes. Ended up going off onto the grass and into the wall, then right to the back.

I eventually recovered up to P8 on the final lap, only for my rear end to lose traction through the chicane at the end of sector 2. Dropped back down to P12.

​

Slot 2 went better, but still not happy with it.

I managed to stick it on pole with a 1:26.994, then stay in the lead through lap 1 starting on the Mediums to go 17M/1H/12S. Good start, happy with it.

The Finn starting P2 managed to exploit my biggest weakness at the start of lap 2 by hanging very close around my rear quarter on the run down to turn 1. The radar is on the right in this car when in VR and the little screens are useless. End result - I can't track people properly whilst turning left. I thought he was going for it so I left space and ended up going deep for it, only to then realise he'd backed out and I didn't need to do it. I was annoyed, but it's still early on. I could just work with him to pull away, fight later.

Unfortunately for me, P3 didn't have the same mindset. I think it's a new French alt of someone who's infamous for being a dirty driver across all the different regions. I won't name directly, but suffice it to say it started with a 3 letter name that begins with S.

This guy was very keen to overtake and I really just wanted to build a gap and escape. He got in front, then made a mistake where he almost binned himself. I have to back off to avoid crashing, then get back in front again because of it. He uses the slipstream to dive me again, then makes another mistake. That repeated so much that everyone else caught up, then one final mistake completely compromised me, gave me damage and dropped me several cars down the order. Very much not happy now.

I ended up stuck fighting with a Polish driver throughout my Medium stint after recovering from that. I'd closed the gap on him pretty quickly, but he was determined to fight me for it which cost us both a lot of time. That backed us up into an Italian who almost spun me out and at this point I'm utterly fuming.

I ended up finishing P6 for 203 points after undercutting the Polish driver doing a longer Soft stint. I've always said 200 points is a good day so I'm going to take it, but that could have been so much better if not for all that nonsense.

​

And then just to top it off, apparently something's mangled the audio on these 2 streams even though I didn't change anything. But when I just tested it now, it's fine again.

With regards to the discussion about participation, it's definitely down a lot. I somehow ended up #61 in EMEA GT1 after round 4 which is ridiculous. I'm having a good season, but previously results like this would have given me a good shot of cracking the top 200, maybe top 150. I only ever barely enter the top 100 after fluking a very strong result off of round 1 on an exhibition season. For me to be this high is not right.

Edit - Now #58 after round 5. 😵‍💫

I think I'll be glad after Saturday when it's all done. 6 solid weeks of this with weekday races has been intense and I can definitely feel the fatigue setting in.

 

[Wilsonson]

Just had an enjoyable race. GT2 101 points B/S lobby. I didn't have any time to practice yesterday and today and had to jump in only getting a single lap of FP before matchmaking.

2 days ago my PB was a 1:27.5 which could put me in contention for a win in my lobbies I thought.

Because of the lack of warm up practice today I totally botched qualifying and didn't come anywhere close to my PB. Didn't get the exit towards the back straight right a single time and misses numerous other apexes as well.

The pace of the lobby had me hopeful that this could be a top 5 finish if I could find my pace and not bottle it.

Since I also didn't have time to test tires and because I was so far back I decided to start the race with 4 laps on hards. Simply to be safe and not get stuck on dead tires at some point.

That first sting went well and I went into the pits P7 leading a middling pack with P6 having separated a bit. I was about 12 seconds behind the leader iirc.

Rejoined P13. My scariest moment came at the end of lap 9. My reaction was too slow and I slightly clipped the car in front of me when they both crashed out to the right. Fortunately only some damage but no penalty for me.

I managed 10 laps on softs. An additional lap would have been possible but it had started to get dicey. The tires looked like this when I came in P5 at the end of lap 14.

The final stint on mediums started P9 for me. It involved a nice battle for many laps with someone who I eventually found out was on softs all the time. I finally got them once their tires started to give out.

The many different strategies made it impossible to keep track of who still needed to pit which added to the excitement, at least for me.

At the end of lap 29 after battling for and finally taking 4th (car still had to pit later anyways) this led to a big surprise when P3 went for their final pit stop granting me a podium. Very pleased and had a good time.

Tires at the end of 16 laps of mediums looked like this:

 

[A1an]

OMG!
I started on RM > RS then two laps on RH at the end.

 

[ZEE]

Well what an "interesting" race, the X2019 isn't everyones cup of tea, and PD do sure make a choppy brew here, but I managed to work it well and almost managed 2nd but settled for 3rd overall in this race!!

I did try to do ane ealrier slot at 6pm and sat there till the timer reached zero and then the game bugged out and left me locked on the spinning track logo and lost me out onthe ealier race, thanks GT game!!! SO stupid and annoying.
Then I came back to the later timeslot and thankfully that was ok!

GTWS NATIONS - EMEA REGION - 10PM slot - RED BULL X2019 25TH annivers - Door no.6 - Started on RS tyres - Sunny Forecast

Qualifying was ok, my pace was ok reading in at 1:29 on my fastest lap that placed me quite low as the group was quite competitive and I was 12th to start on the grid.

Onto the Race!

Rolling start was very choppy for these cars, but I managed to boost out to the 1st corner where all hell broke loose, I got weaved and bumped into a car that made me serve a 3ec penalty, not sure why, I was like oh damn here we go another one of those races. Served it at the apporach to the tunnel and then pushed back to acheive up to 7th place all from 12th place.

My strategy was as Moose or STpatty pointed out, I went 11RS > 18RM > 1RH, I just managed to remember this as I was on lap 29 and almost forgot to pit lol.

I then fought hard and managed to push myself up to 4th place on after the first pitstop, the RM tyres, helped gained by some drivers using alternate strategy methods. Overall it worked out well as I could not risk, but the leader pitted early and did about 3 laps on the RH tyres which was very brave of him.

Chasing the 2nd place guy, his lead kept increasing, but I was now in 3rd place and chasing till the finish line. Alas he pitted on the last lap as me and I thought I could catch him but the pitstop was so slow I lost secondds exiting and could not catch him on he gap, so I took the podium on 3rd and never looked back!

Could not save my reply to review the race as the PS5 and GT7 have that stupid limited storage thingy, so bloddy annoying!!

Onto Round 6 and last but not means least! LFG!

Spoiler: Round 5 race photos

 

[tmtk]

GT2, first US slot, low-to-mid B lobby, 95 points for the win

My qualifying wasn't good, I contracted a penalty and it blew my two laps, fortunately I managed to squeeze in a 4th flying lap which wasn't terrible (29.5) and that gave me P9 on the grid.

The idea was to start on mediums, then hards and finish with softs.

Start was ok, managed to pass two cars that were involved in a contact in the chicane (one of them spun pretty badly right in front of me but ghosted so I wasn't affected). Another incident happened in the right hander after the backstraight, another two cars passed.
Come the end of lap 1 and I'm P5. 👍

In the next few laps I advance to P4 when another car spins in the uphill corners at the end of sector 1. After this the race settles, I'm 4th with a gap behind and far away from the frontrunners.

On lap 10 first frontrunners on softs start to pit, by the end of lap 11 I am leading the race running the long stint on mediums.
I'm far from being fastest on pace, with RMs I did 1:32s on average (with occasional 31s or high 30 being my fastest lap).
But stayed clear of trouble so far.

Laps are passing, I look at my tires and it's something strange, the tire wear is much less dire than in the race test lobbies that I ran for testing (must be different time of day/temperature than in actual race). I planned to pit on lap 17, but there's quite a lot of tire left. WTF?
Quick calculations and if I extend my medium stint by two laps, I will have to do only one lap on hards and have pretty competitive softs for the last stretch of the race. So I did, pitted for hards on lap 19, then for softs on lap 20.

Emerged in 3rd right in front of three-car group, but they were on slightly used mediums, so I had an edge with my softs and slowly built comfortable margin through the turns. Kind of lost orientation of who pitted or not, so I suddenly see the P2 car far ahead of me pitting on lap 25 for hard tires! Five laps on hards, brave but not wise!

I hunted them down pretty quick, they tried to resist staying in slipstream and making overly optimistic move after the backstraight. But they overbraked themselves, then went wide in following corner and the re-pass was just a formality.

Second on the finish line!!!

On pure pace I could maybe count on top 5, but most probably P6-7, yet this time errors in the race eluded me (just once I bounced off the wall in the tunnel - without consequences).
After the RedBull at Spa fiasco, this round was supposed to to be a drop round in terms of points, but it's now a tie in with my best round so far - 91 points. Sweet!

 

[MIE1992]

Q11/P12, but 75 points for that is quite nice. I saw quite a few DR A drivers in there, too!