...From there on out, it was a comedy of unforced errors on my part. As soon as I made some headway working up the field, I'd put the car in the sand somewhere and have to start all over again....
Yeah, this was my two races yesterday too. My own errors costing me dearly. A lot of time spent for two races that I botched all on my own...
First race I lost about 20-25 seconds due to off track excursions or just over-slowing because I missed a braking point in T1, or Spoon. Otherwise a clean race from all other parties.
Second race, I lost 25 seconds spinning out on the straight (yes, on the straight) leading up to 130R. I was in 6th on lap 4 or 5, went to bump draft the car in front of me and as soon as I touched him the car wiggled and I lost it. Ended up stopped, nose in the wall. I've never had that happen bump drafting before, it's not like I hit him hard or anything either; it was an appropriately soft tap. Just threw my hands up saying "how the hell did that even happen?" I must have been mis-aligned or maybe steering a little when I bumped him or something. Still, otherwise a clean race from all other parties, including a great battle trying (unsuccsessfully) to recover a top 10 for the last 5 laps.
Based on race times and my lost time, those errors took me from a potential 3rd to 9th in the first race, and potential 6th to 11th in the second race in a higher ranked lobby. Entirely unforced, no dirty drivers to blame, lol.
I did notice last night that the lobbies were way more evenly ranked, in terms of DR, than they normally are for a 11pm and midnight PST lobby in my experience. I often end up in races that are Mid B through A+, and even sometimes C through A+ at those times. I assume due to a thinned out player pool. But last night the 11pm was solid A 1-16, and midnight was half A, half A+. Maybe that is a good sign of the player pool for the new longer format?