GTP WRS-Online : Event 38 : Monaco Trophy Cup - May 30

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

Congratz to Maverick for the sweep: Win, pole and fastest lap. Here are the official results:

GTPorsche · May 31, 2012

I think I finished 1'13 behind Maverick overall...?

Good race everyone. If it wasn't for my wheel in the last half of the race, and getting stuck behind Hydro up until his first pitstop, I might have been able to get a better result. The last 10 laps or thereabouts when my times started dropping off towards the end was when my wheel was giving signs of overheating. By the time I finished the race and let go of the wheel, it was 90 degrees off center to the right. If it wasn't for that I probably would have been able to hold off Kev for the final couple laps.

I think next time I'll swap my H-shifter for my sequential shifter to ease some of the rhythm potentially being thrown off by an overheating wheel. I'm also going to have to open my pedals up and do some more extensive preventative maintenance on the potentiometer attached to the gas pedal. For a good portion of that race, my gas pedal was not achieving 100% throttle, but it wasn't enough to really affect my overall speed.

Also being my first time racing in close proximity with others, I noticed being in the slipstream of the car ahead affects braking abilities. I like that, but I just need to adjust to it. Had a few issues getting slowed down for the chicane because I was caught off guard by it.

I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, but if I were to make any excuses, I'd blame the gum I was chewing on going soft for those final laps messing up my driving. :lol:

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

Yes, I made an error in the order and corrected it, but it takes a bit for the image to refresh from the cache. All better now and you finished in 4th 1:13.046 behind Maverick.

Shawn, you were faster than me on long stints that's for sure. I caught a break with a good quali lap #2... my first one was rubbish, but I pulled a very good 2nd lap. At this track qualifying is very important. Kevin was faster than me too and I was just about to consider letting him by and drafting him to speed us both up when he had is spin and left me alone in 2nd. I really cruised to some nice laps after that, but about half way through the stint I caught the wall on exit of the chicane and spun and erased most of my lead. By the end of the stint you were hunting me down, but I short pitted you which got back a couple seconds.

I slowed down a bit the 2nd stint on purpose to save tires. I knew I had to run 17 laps instead of 16... It worked OK as my times didn't drop off nearly as fast, but cost me a chance at at 1'39 lap...

I consider myself fortunate to get 2nd. No way on earth I was keeping up with Maverick and really probably 3rd or 4th fastest in the field so I maximized my result I think.

GTPorsche · May 31, 2012

I made so many moves trying to get around Hydro at the beginning but every move I made ended up not having the room to pull off the pass so I just backed off instead of potentially causing contact. Eventually I started getting frustrated when Kev was catching up to Hydro and myself and I slipped up enough that Kev got by. That's when I was hoping Kev would have been able to get around Hydro. Then Kev pitted and Hydro spun after making contact with the barrier coming out of the chicane and that's when I started catching back up to you again.

For most of that second stint, I was 55-57 seconds behind Maverick so I was a bit disappointed I was held up for the first third of the race since I clearly had the pace to be up with the lead had nothing gone wrong.

As for qualifying, I didn't push it like I should have on my first lap and then on my second I bumped the barrier going through and out of the swimming pool complex and that's probably what took a 2nd or 3rd qualifying spot and made it a 5th place.

I don't think I ended up saving my tires as well as I did in the EU race since I was pushing hard trying to make a pass on Hydro and getting caught up in his slipstream caused some sliding to happen, which I had no sliding in the first race which allowed me to go 20 laps. I took the tires 1 or 2 laps too far in this race as I was in the 1'44s for the two laps before I took my only pitstop of the race.

But, that's the nature of Monaco where you're only as good as the guy ahead of you. :lol:

Overall I'm glad I decided to sign up for these races since the combo was so fun. I went into this expecting to be mid-pack and definitely didn't expect to do as good as I did, but my overall consistency and pace proved otherwise.

Gravitron · May 31, 2012

Sounds like we may have hooked another regular. :dopey:

👍 Glad to have you aboard, man.

Congrats Mav, Tim, and Kev for the NA podiums, and everyone else who didn't get permanently stuck into a wall.

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

A few pics from EU... I gave our official photographer Al a copy of the NA replay and he's going to post some shots from that race tomorrow:

DustDriver · May 31, 2012

The spread in colors is just as good as the spread in nationalities.
Only color to be used 3 times is white

Although I've mostly seen black clios during the race :lol:

And I could notice Shawn was preserving his tires better than me. He was slowly closing the gap near the end of the race.

jammy21 · May 31, 2012

n0iZe83
Good race guys 👍

was good fun, I hope I didn´t hold up anybody.
Had a couple of good laps with Jammy, nice mate
Unfortunatly, in the last lap I was so suprised over the slow car in front of me, who had already finished the race, that I missed a couple of brake points and in the end Jammy got me with 10 seconds on the clock.

Well, better luck next time, still struggling with my wheel sometimes.

Cheers to everyone

Yes it was good race. It was gooners that suprised us both in the last lap. You had more trouble with him than me so i got luck to get you before running clock went 0s

Small_Fryz · May 31, 2012

Awesome race guys and the times the top guys pulled out was simply amazing :eek:

I was running 4th and falling behind the top 3 with Gooners a few seconds behind and keeping me honest until on about lap 9 - 10 when I disconnected

.

Congrats to GTP_Aderrrm for the win, truly one of the fastest drives I have had the pleasure to race. 👍 :cheers:

Hopefully I can make some more races with you fellas!! 7 - 8 D1 drivers... + solid D2 drivers.. Awesome.

n0iZe83 · May 31, 2012

Jammy, that's right, I got very nervous after that and made stupid errors, was so disappointed with myself :ouch:

Yeah Fryz, the competition is fierce in WRS.
I'm still a little bit shocked about the level and the consistency you guys have,
but I registered for WRS with the goal to improve my racing skills, so I think it's ok.

I still cannot do a 33 lap event without making errors, especially on this combo.
The consistency and speed of the top level driver is amazing, don't know how to do that :crazy:

Any tips and tricks from the fast guys for improving my wheel skills?

Adam41 · May 31, 2012

Great stuff last night everyone. It was unfortunate the servers were a bit iffy. Unfortunate T-L and Dion got dc'ed so early on - I even got dc'ed once I'd crossed the line :yuck:

I'll have to download the EU replay!

When I first got to room I was shocked nearly everyone was already in there punching away their times. :lol:

I struggled to put in a fast time but managed a good time in quali where I probably had the benefit of setting my lap first.

The formation lap was alright, but even some of the series I've been in struggle to to keep a 62 mph/100 kmh pace without the guys towards the back falling a bit behind because of the slow corners - and they're normally split grids with 7 or 8 drivers. I don't know how well you lot got out the last corner but you could try dropping the speed to something like 50/80 for Monaco next time, just a thought.

At the start of the race I punched in some quick lap times and built a gap up to James and Wes who were stuck together until lap 14. I'm not sure if Wes just couldn't get past James or chose to stay behind him.

The gap was at 7 seconds when James pitted on lap 14 and with me running around 2-2.5 seconds off pace with my old tires, I knew I would have to pit on lap 16 rather than the optimal 17 so that James couldn't get close to me. I came out around 2.5 seconds ahead of James, behind Mohit. I felt a bit under pressure at this point and made a few mistakes, but was trying to conserve my tyres which was quite a pain without the tyre noise. :scared:

This was also when my accelerator pedal decided to stick the worst it's ever stuck, flickering and staying on when I'm braking, especially at the top of the hill, and flickering between my 90 and 100% when I was full throttle. It wasn't very enjoyable and I don't think I even managed a 38 in that second stint but I managed to stay ahead of James and Wes.

Thanks Dion for your compliment, and for your tune of course.

👍

Also nice pics Mike and Tim, I especially like Mike's 2nd one.

Race you guys again soon! :cheers:

mohitraina91 · May 31, 2012

n0iZe83
Jammy, that's right, I got very nervous after that and made stupid errors, was so disappointed with myself

Yeah Fryz, the competition is fierce in WRS.
I'm still a little bit shocked about the level and the consistency you guys have,
but I registered for WRS with the goal to improve my racing skills, so I think it's ok.

I still cannot do a 33 lap event without making errors, especially on this combo.
The consistency and speed of the top level driver is amazing, don't know how to do that

Any tips and tricks from the fast guys for improving my wheel skills?

How new are you with the wheel? In any case the best way to improve is practice. I got my wheel in December, and for a few races I was always in the bottom 3. But just practicing over time will make things better.

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

Yes Adam you are right about the formation lap speed. I don't think it caused any real major issues at 100 kph, but definitely with a field that large and a tight track 80 kph would have been better. Will keep that in mind for this and similar tracks in the future. For example next week at Tsukuba.

Seems like hardware and network issues were afoot yesterday. Hydro couldn't join the room because it said full even though there was an open spot, vagabond had Internet deceleration, T-L had a PSN outage, small_fryz got DC'd, my shifter paddle malfunctioned, gtporsche's wheel overheated and crapped out, adam had pedal issues... Did I miss any? :lol:

Despite all of that there were two great races yesterday and lots of fun. Hope you guys persevere and return for more later as you are all quality racers and that was one heck of a field to be part of. 👍

Ps. I think speedy was going to upload a PAL version of the EU replay.

AspecBob · May 31, 2012

Here are a few pics from the NA race.

Dale and I spent quite a bit of time chasing each other (great fun, as most of my races have been lonely these past few weeks):

DustDriver · May 31, 2012

WRP001
Seems like hardware and network issues were afoot yesterday. Hydro couldn't join the room because it said full even though there was an open spot, vagabond had Internet deceleration, T-L had a PSN outage, small_fryz got DC'd, my shifter paddle malfunctioned, gtporsche's wheel overheated and crapped out, adam had pedal issues... Did I miss any?

No tire sounds in the EU race

*knocks on wood*
For some reason I rarely have problems in online races. I can leave and join again without problems.
Only problem that I had was that my PS3 really heated up my room :lol:

EDK · May 31, 2012

I had a good race last night, although I don't think I performed to my potential.

I got into a nice groove in practice, where my last time out, I managed a low 1:40 on my first timed lap and a 1:39.7 on my second timed lap. I thought I had nice momentum going into quali, to take second position.

In quali, I was careful on my first lap to be sure I got a banker lap in the 1:40's. I ended up with a 1:40.666. Second lap, I made some sloppy mistakes and could not capitalize on my extra pace, I ended up with a 1:40.657.

That meant I started 3rd behind Tim. I scrapped with Tim for about 4 laps, and was right on his bumper, but ended up having a spin at the Hairpin. I had the car get loose there at times in practice, but it was one of the only times I've spun full on in that corner, I'm honestly not sure what happened, it might even be that being right in Tim's draft had an effect. I was much more careful in that turn for the balance of the race as a result, normally using my high 1st gear to get in, with a quick upshift to 2nd before powering out.

By the time I recovered, I was in 5th, behind Hydro and GTP_orsche. I managed to get past GTP_orsche on a mistake he made, and then held him up (along with a small train behind him) for 3 or 4 laps while I struggled on tires that were damaged from my spin.

The damaged tires meant I needed to adjust to a 2 stop strategy for the race. I had seen the EU results, so I knew a 2 stop could be effective, so I was not worried. I suspected I would be able to run most of my race in clean air, which was going to help me form some consistency.

I pitted around lap 11, an early pit that was prompted by the damaged tires.

I came out of the pits ahead of aspecbob and RaceRyder, and behind the rest of the field. I managed consistent laps in the 1:40's, not dropping into the 41's until 6 or 7 laps into my stint. I managed to get by Hydro and LinPark about halfway through the stint, when Hydro made a mistake exiting the Chicane and I found both stopped as I came out of the chicane but was able to squeeze past.

I managed to nearly catch GTP_orsche by the time he made his first and only stop. I thought that gave me a good shot at 3rd, as I would have fresher tires for the balance of the race and only my 1 more stop to make.

On making my final pit around lap 23, I came out around 5 second behind GTP_orsche with tires that were 4 or 5 laps fresher. I caught him by lap 28, and then proceeded to battle with him for the next 4 laps. He was off the pace, running in the 43's, by the time we made it to lap 32, but was still making it very tough to get by. I finally was able to take it 2 wide in the chicane due to my tires that were in very good shape due to the slower laps. We did have a small tap in the chicane, but my pass happened after the chicane exit. He was over toward the right wall with reduced momentum. I would rather that I made the pass with no contact at all, but that's very tough at Monaco.

I was able to quickly pull a gap to him, of at least 4 seconds, and finished 16 seconds ahead, so it's clear there was a pace differential, I'm just sad to know it was down to equipment, as I would rather have had a proper battle.

I could see Tim lurking ahead of me toward the end, but ultimately finished 16 seconds behind, a gap I was likely not going to recover, even if I did not have the battle with GTP_orsche.

I need to find my old, boring consistency again. The last couple races I've run in, I've been forced into 2 stop strategies that really don't suit my driving style. That said, I had a lot of fun here, and am glad to have had some good battles and track action.

See you guys this weekend. 👍

n0iZe83 · May 31, 2012

mohitraina91
How new are you with the wheel? In any case the best way to improve is practice. I got my wheel in December, and for a few races I was always in the bottom 3. But just practicing over time will make things better.

Thanks Gooners for the reply.
I got my wheel and seat in February and improved a lot since then trough practice, but now I am a little bit stuck.

I still find it very hard to correct a slide or after a wall smash to get back on track fast.
Also I'm struggling with different offline/online physics.

But I think you're right: only time and practice will get me there

My main reason for joining the WRS was to improve my racing and wheel skills.

Sorry, if this is off-topic.

mohitraina91 · May 31, 2012

n0iZe83
Thanks Gooners for the reply.
I got my wheel and seat in February and improved a lot since then trough practice, but now I am a little bit stuck.

I still find it very hard to correct a slide or after a wall smash to get back on track fast.
Also I'm struggling with different offline/online physics.

But I think you're right: only time and practice will get me there

My main reason for joining the WRS was to improve my racing and wheel skills.

Sorry, if this is off-topic.

You'll be glad to know that after 3 months most people still have issues correcting when they make a mistake. For example, after 4 months I was able to correct minor slides, and now it's been 5 months and I'm able to correct most of the bigger ones. Some still get away :dopey:

. It may take you 4 months or 8 months, but you'll get there.

About the differences in physics, a good tune can go a long way to neutralising the differences. And if you're like me and don't know how to tune, there's always WRS'ers who post them. Also getting a couple of hours practice for each race, doing some long runs to see how the car handles after the tires are worn, can make a big difference in the race.

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

EDK
I had a good race last night, although I don't think I performed to my potential...

Yes, Kevin I think you had pace for 2nd which was your position on the practice leaderboard before the race. I consider myself fortunate to have finished ahead of you this time.

I had a horrendous first quali lap. 1'41.6 or something. It was really good until the last couple turns (which gave me trouble all night for the first time) when I tapped the wall hard. Even on the final turn I tapped the wall a bit and lost speed for my 2nd lap. But the rest of the 2nd lap was really good and I hit every mark. Had I had decent momentum from the first lap I think it would have been a 1'39.X lap. Lately I've been qualifying a lot better so that's a good trend. Note: I ran a very slow quali for EU, but that was down to being stuck in 4th or 3rd for a few of the slow turns and nothing I could do about that.

Back to NA... I was very happy to quali in front of you... I knew I had no chance to qualify ahead of Maverick so that was the best I could hope for. I also wanted someone between myself and GTP_orsche... I knew for a fact how good he was on tires and how bad I am on tires so my only choice was to create a gap and as it turns out I think Hydro qualified ahead of Shawn which was key.

I got a little gap right away on you Kevin, mostly due to cold tires I think, but you quickly closed that gap and we were pretty much on pace. I think you might have been a little faster, but hard to tell as I was also giving you a tug with the draft. Around lap 4 or 5 I was considering letting you by and saving my own tires. I didn't want to hold you up, wear out my tires that early in the race and then have Shawn hunt me down late. I figured I could maybe short pit you and get back out front. But you spun so that made the decision pretty easy and I decided since Hydro now separated me from the field and I knew he didn't have much of a chance to practice so I could most likely create a gap. And I ran really hard for about the next 8 laps creating quite a large gap. I got faster each run through the chicane and got more cocky on exit as well... until it bit me. I kept optimizing my exit and nicked the corner wall enough to spin me 180. I had to reverse and deal with some damage and my lead went from large to just a few seconds over Hydro. And I used up all my tires trying to create that gap and had no rubber left to create a new gap. :mad:

I really struggled for pace after that and my fronts were dead. Hydro had a spin in the same spot and Shawn got clear. He then ate at my lead at well over 1 second per lap. The last lap in my stint (16th hot lap) I could barely turn at all and pitted only maybe 4 seconds in front of Shawn. But with fresh rubber I felt like superman again and Shawn stayed out a couple laps where I was running low 1'40 again and I started catching up to you... thought you were on a one stopper or no stopper and didn't realize you had undercut me in the pits. I caught you just as you pitted which worked out well for me. I wasn't held up at all during the entire race by someone in front. Even lapped cars magically crashed to the side of the road when I approached. :dopey:

Shawn had his problems and you were locked in a battle with him so pretty much left it in cruise control for the next 10 laps saving the tires since i knew I needed a 17 lap stint. Saw Daniel up ahead and had tires left and a large gap to third the last few laps so I turned up the wick a little and tried to use him as a rabbit and chase him down, but he had really good pace at the end and I couldn't manage to get to him.

As for Maverick... I saw him for 3-4 laps and then he disappeared... after my spin I didn't even know which triangle was him on the map he was so far ahead.

All in all in one of my weaker tracks I'm pretty happy with the result. I found a rhythm through the swimming pool which is always a problem for me and avoided contact with the walls 99% of the time. But on the other hand I lost all rhythm in the final two turns which is where I usually get an advantage here. No matter what car I drive I can never put all three sectors together on this track.

Speedy6543 · May 31, 2012

WRP001
Ps. I think speedy was going to upload a PAL version of the EU replay.

I'll get on that in an hour or so.

n0iZe83 · May 31, 2012

mohitraina91
You'll be glad to know that after 3 months most people still have issues correcting when they make a mistake. For example, after 4 months I was able to correct minor slides, and now it's been 5 months and I'm able to correct most of the bigger ones. Some still get away . It may take you 4 months or 8 months, but you'll get there.

About the differences in physics, a good tune can go a long way to neutralising the differences. And if you're like me and don't know how to tune, there's always WRS'ers who post them. Also getting a couple of hours practice for each race, doing some long runs to see how the car handles after the tires are worn, can make a big difference in the race.

Ok, maybe then I'm not as bad as I tought with my wheel

but still a ton to learn...but you're right I dont't have to pressure myself too much.

I actually did a couple of long runs, also the week before, but in the race it's a different story, at least for me (still feeling the pressure too much in my opinion).

Yeah, with the tunes you're right: first I used Kevin's tune and it was very nice for the offline Hot-Lap-Event, but then in the practice session online I kept crashing. Then I switched to Fryz-Tune and it was much better for online use.
In the end I used Fryz Tune with Kevin's transmission settings.

Almost forgot: thanks guys for the good setup :sly:

and yes Gooners I suck at tuning

GTPorsche · May 31, 2012

I don't think there's anything I can do about my wheel overheating as it doesn't have any fans in it to cool it off. I've had it happen before, but usually after hours of playing. The only thing I can do is turn the FFB on the wheel down lower. I might have had it beginning to occur at the end of the EU race as the wheel was slightly to the right off-center, but I normally have the wheel just a bit off center to the right.

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

Hey n0iZe,

Just keep at it and you'll get more comfortable, faster and more consistent each week.

In my first series last fall I did a few solo full race length run thru practices to work out everything from fuel to tires to grip levels, etc. It really helped me to concentrate on my lines during the race as strategy and contingency plans were already worked out and made me practice consistency versus just trying to constantly hot lap.

Once that was done then I focused on hot lapping and getting every last tenth on tracks where qualifying is very important. At Monaco qualifying is large factor in the outcome... the best strategy in the world isn't going to do you much good if you qualify behind a slower driver and give up a gap of 8 seconds to the next driver trying to pass. But in many places it's much more important to be consistent and avoid large mistakes.

At this point having raced online for about 9 months it takes a lot less practice and my race laps are much closer to my hot laps. But with all the practice in the world I know I'm not going to keep up with the aliens at the front. At some point reality sets in and you realize to just have fun competing with the guys at your level and trying to constantly improve and get more consistent. Once in a while (not often) the faster guys will slip up or a combo will suit your style perfectly and you'll outperform and sometimes the opposite and someone usually behind you will leave you in the dust.

This series will typically have entries from every speed from alien on down so it's a great place to get a measure of where you are at and how you are progressing. But it can also be a reality check. For me a steady diet of humble pie every week in the EU race.

Gravitron · May 31, 2012

n0iZe83
Ok, maybe then I'm not as bad as I tought with my wheel but still a ton to learn...but you're right I dont't have to pressure myself too much.

I actually did a couple of long runs, also the week before, but in the race it's a different story, at least for me (still feeling the pressure too much in my opinion).

Don't worry too much about the pressure, it just takes time and more online races. For the first 2 or 3 months, I would start to get a nervous feeling in my stomach when leaving work on Wed evenings, knowing that I was headed home for another butt-kicking. The nervous feelings are now gone, but I still tend to find a way to screw things up on lap 1 of most of my races. :dunce:

Anyway, just trying to say the same thing as Tim, "just keep at it". Good to have some new guys. 👍

n0iZe83 · May 31, 2012

Thanks for the encouragement, guys 👍

I will stick to it, don´t worry! Actually I love the WRS so far, very professional, ultra fast and nice people here.

And now let´s practice some tsukuba on that S2000 drift monster

WRP001 · May 31, 2012

n0iZe83
Thanks for the encouragement, guys 👍

I will stick to it, don´t worry! Actually I love the WRS so far, very professional, ultra fast and nice people here.

And now let´s practice some tsukuba on that S2000 drift monster

Online race thread for that S2000 beast is about to be released. That is truly a monster online if you aren't prepared. I tested it with Marc and Lucas prior to the time trial being released and it was fun... but didn't do enough laps to wear those rear tires. :scared:

Going to take some good time trial work on my part before I even attempt that online again.

But before that we've got the World Tour Stop #1 on our plate for the weekend. 👍 👍