So, here a few guidelines for you guys that don't regard offline events as steps to game completion (fielding the X2010 whenever possible or in specific races - like this one - fielding OVERTUNED CARS).
These guidelines won't assure you a win, but they will put you in contention. And, most probably, you will indeed win the race.
Car: Go for a premium Miata, the most basic and older model (don't have access to the PS3, will report later exactly what car I used, but it's the first bodywork, with retractable headlights).
Tyres:Sports Hard
Setup: Mine had stage 1 engine; racing air filter; racing catalystic converter; oil change. Sports suspension (the one that allows you to lower the ride height but not every other tweaks). Fully customizable LSD
Target lap time:1.09'000 with fresh rubber. If you can do better, detune the car.
Other settings: NO assists, including ... NO ABS. If possible, for G25 users, go for the H-Shifter and clutch. Really a step up in the joy of the overall experience
My race report:
INTRODUCTION
No previous training whatsoever, I went in with a mildly tuned Miata and no idea on how competitive the field was. Just for the fun I decided to race using the clutch and H-Pattern shifter, even if that is a major time loser for me, because not only miss-shifts happen very often for an untrained gamer, but also because that changes fundamentally the way I play normally ... I go from left-foot braking to right-foot braking and that is confusing, sometimes leading to mistakes.
Now the actual report. I'll do it "twitter style"
FIRST STINT - 0:00 to 0:50
- Race start and first few laps are a total mess due to no-abs, right foot braking, no practise in shifting with clutch ... no prior testing ... etc
- 5 laps in: I got " a grip" on things and started to lap consistently between 1.10s and 1.11s. I was last, of course, almost half a lap down on race leader (+/- 25 seconds).
- said "grip" allowed me to crawl back into race pace, very, very slowly gaining time on 11th place ( I could see it in the distance in the back straight), but almost nothing on the leader ...
- the race was clearly defining itself in two groups, as the field of cars started to spread out. A leading Group with 3 cars, then a few scattered cars then a second group with 5 or 6 cars. all racing close together ... and then ... quite a distance away, totally alone ... me
- After a litle over 30 minutes my laptimes started to suffer. Slightly but surely, I wasn't able anymore to do 1.10 ... and it became increasingly hard to achieve 1.11. After 40 minutes a good lap would be a low 1.12 already.
- I was still last, very close now to 11th place, but slowly and surely my recovery rate stalled, and after a while he (and the pack he was racing with) started to pull away again.
- By minute 0:50 I was already 40 seconds down on the leader and IAS still showed no sign of slowing their own pace, quite the contrary. Frustrated I headed for the pits. Thought about quitting ... I'm glad I didn't
SECOND STINT - 0:50 to 1:40
- Only changed the tyres, still had more than half tank of fuel.
- But I decided that second stint would be made in my usual race trim ... meaning ... bumper cam, paddle shifting, left-foot braking
- (I thought ... "If I get too quick and it spoils the fun, I'll do the last stint as I did the first" ... was not to be)
- Left the pits right behind race leader. Total humiliation, I was AI-LAPPED
- Still no signs of pace slowing for them. WTH are they cheating ?!?!?!?
- To add to my misery I do a silly mistake in the outlap, at the hairpin before the back straight and as a result:
a) watch race leader disappear into the distance;
b) 2nd placed AI got glued to my car's rear bumper ...
- after settling in again with the new/old habits I start to lap consistent 1.09s and ... at last ... I'm gaining time on race leader.
- In any case, I guess AI benefit from slipstream also, because it took me a few laps to shake 2nd place off
- From then on, and up until 1:20 I do a lonely race, getting closer and closer to race leader, but at a desperately slow recovery pace. My lap times start to deteriorate again and after a while, all laps shoen on screen are already 1.10 ... then 1.11
- However, race leader finally catches up with the other back markers.
- And that changes things, because he gets stuck there (no blue flags in GT5 )
- Between 1:20 and 1:35 I get him, unlap myself, and for the first time I do some overtaking and STOP being in this race's LAST POSITION !!!
- (I get to 6th, entering the no-man's land between the faster and the slower miatas)
- By 1:40, however, my tires were (again) shot, I wasn't able to gain time on the guys behind me and I was in fact losing time on 5th placed car (I could see his dot in the map slowly but surely pulling away).
- I was lapping in the high 1.12s by now, so .. totally puzzled for the apparent lack of tire wear in the AI field ... I pitted again.
THIRD STINT - 1:40 to 2:30
- Again, no refueling, I had almost half a tank by then
- Leave the pits in 8th position, and still in front of race leader (still mingled with the pack of back markers).
- Returning to a 1.09 secs per lap steady pace, this time I took the time to notice that a visit to the pits, without refueling, costs us about 30 seconds (small pit lane, quick entry and quick exit)
- I start to move up the field in a way unexperienced so far. 7th, 6th, 5th ... the field is now all mixed up and the AI's weakness in overtaking among themselves really shows now)
- 4th, 3rd, 2nd are still far but within this stint's reach I think. Can't be sure where / what dots they are, only know the difference to race leader and "he" is still more than half a lap away.
- Anyway, I'm getting there, and by now quite confident this race will in the end be mine. Still puzzled by them not pitting, but I sense a definite slowing of their pace, even in free air.
- Then we hit the 2:00 mark (half race) and I think ... "either there's a bug and they don't pit at all unless they're become of fuel ... or they are doing a one-stopper because they're not human at tire-saving "
- At 2:05 ... a car pits. And the pit dance begins, lasting about 10 minutes /10 laps of the race.
- When it ends, by 2:15 ... I am RACE LEADER !!!!!
- 10 seconds clear on 2nd place, I manage to build this gap to 15 seconds until, by 2:20 (race time) again I start to lose pace. And the gap remains with the help of traffic.
- Now was the time for strategic thinking. I had been doing 50 minutes stints. If I did this one also, I still had 10 minutes to race, and would pit at 2:30 race time.
- That would leave me with 90 minutes to do, in two stints of 45 minutes.
- It was a safe bet, so I decided to stay out until 2:30.
- When I entered, I was really struggling with destroyed tires and 2nd place had gained 10 seconds on me so I was only 5 seconds in front. And having an amazing race I didn't think this game could give me!!!! And of the best kind ... a true endurance race
FOURTH STINT - 2:30 to 3:15
- Again, no refueling needed, just tires.
- I still had about 1/4 of the tank of fuel. Enough for the next 45 minutes, although it was clear that I would need some fuel in my last stop.
- Reentered the track in 3rd position, about 25 seconds down on race leader.
- This was my best stint by far. I was confident, I knew the car now, and already had close to 150 laps made in this race.
- I managed a few 1.08 sec laps early on and then, because both 2nd and leader got into traffic, I got them, passed them, and distanced myself from them.
- When the 45 minutes ended I was leader, 30 seconds up on 2nd place and thinking to myself ... "I bagged this so perfectly maybe I really should return to the H-PAttern, clutch, right-foot braking in this last stint".
- And that was my plan, until ... **** happened!
- I miscalculated the entry into the pitlane, and hit the pit wall not entirely headon, but hard enough so that the car had a "hiccup" in its course at the moment of pit entrance.
- And this happened ... AI took over the car, managed to resume the normal pit lane procedures and speed, and pitted. BUT ...
- ... I didn't get the popup screen where you select what tires to use and how many liters to reuel
- The car stopped in the pits .... and stayed there ...
- Gave me time to think lots of things, and use many words I normally don't use.
- I thought at some point about quitting, because it all seemed as if the car was still waiting orders and would never leave the pits.
Until ... it did.
- And the tank was FULL
FIFTH AND FINAL STINT - 3:15 to 4:00
- Left pitlane in 5th position. 37 secs behind leader
- After 30 minutes of the best driving I could achieve, I was 2nd. 10 seconds behind leader.
- Still improved and got as close as 7,5 seconds behind leader
- Then, two things happened. With less than 10 minutes to go.
- 1. Leader got free air, with no prospect of changes unbtil the end of the race
- 2. My tires were kaput.
- I was lucky to hold on to second place in the end ... 14 seconds behind the leader ... and 0.3 on 3rd placed car.
- Tired. Frustrated. Nervous. Irritated. ALl and everything you guys can imagine
- After a while, with a cold beer and some reflexive thoughts .... I realized I had experienced one hell of a race. Like they should always be, if devs understood how important the AI is; a close field is, consistency in racing is.
If anyone read it all, congratulations. And I hope this write up will serve its main purpose. To provide a Miata /Tsukuba /4 hours good race for anyone that wants to actually race it and not only add it to the "completed events check list"
) and so far the main differences are two:
, and there he was an angry Arta NSX just 1 second behind, passed through the chicane with that beast hitting my rear bumper, and when we entered the straight he was closing the gap more and more, finally the finish line!!!!
