- 11,122
- Bromley
- V16T91
- E0nLeader
...they would probably be the best online races in the world.
In AD 2012
Race was beginning.
"What happen?"
"Somebody set us up the race."
"We get start."
"What!"
"Main lights turn on."
"It's start!!"
"How are you gentlemen!!"
"All your race are belong to us."
"You are on way to startline."
"What you say!!"
"You have no chance to win race Make your time."
"Ha ha ha ha...."
"Zeta!"
"Take off every 'Car'!"
"You know what you doing."
"Move 'Car'."
"For great justice."
So anyway, it was Sunday the 20th of May, the day of the finish of the Nurburgring 24h. Coincidentally also two days away from my birthday, but whatever.
After the finish involving a Porsche crossing the line at 4mph with 4 seconds to go then getting hit by a Clio and Audi winning, the lads in the thread threw up the idea of a GT5 party to celebrate the finish of the race. Provided said party included an almost ridiculous supply of beer, rum, and various other alcoholic drinks, we would be fine.
I jumped at the chance and eventually got the main designation of host of the grand party at the 24h track. With a good number of people from the thread hopping in, as well as a few who weren't, some guys eventually hit upon the idea of doing a race.
Now, let me make something clear. I am no fan of the online race in this game. I do very full free run lobbies, and cruise lobbies with some of my mates, but I have not trudged into the online racing category for a long while. This is because it, with public lobbies, the races are dirtier than a mud-stained shirt, and with racing series, I'm slow as molasses compared to the faster lads with their experience with wheels compared to my DS3ness. TL;DR, online racing is a hopeless journey for me.
With this in mind, I was kinda reluctant to get such a race going - especially as the lads suggesting it were wanting 10 lap races...around the Nurb no less. They agreed on 5 eventually, but we settled on 3 - I didn't want it to be too dragged out.
We were set, but then was requested to quickly put Time Progression to 60, and I also stuck weather changeability to 1. However, as I'd reset everyone off the track as a result, everyone was put in a bit of a hurry to get to the circuit (with the grid being Fastest First and with there being no time for hotlaps) and so we only ended up with 11 starters despite a very full lobby.
I will admit, I did rather rush to get to the track first and I even had the advantage of first pit box and all that. As a result, I would end up being the first man out in my absolute favourite in the game - the Mitsubishi FTO Super Touring Car. Also, I should note the limit for the cars was 591bhp (RH tyres) - and I was going in with a stock FTO STC, which happened to have 444. But with such experience in the hands of such a wonderful machine, surely it wouldn't be that bad...right?
With the time progression at 60 the track got to night-time in time for the start. This was what the grid looked like on the start line...
1. V16T91 (C-ZETA) - Mitsubishi FTO Super Touring Car
2. Lotrzyna - Nissan GT-R R35 Touring Car
3. ibonibo - Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 Touring Car
4. GTP_Dan360 (Dan360) - BMW M3 GTR Race Car ‘01
5. thepineapple1 (TP1) - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) RM ‘06
6. GTP_monoha (monoha) - Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG ‘10
7. OK8_ - Lamborghini Nomad Diablo GT-1 ‘00
8. Marky264 - Audi R8 LMS Race Car (Team PlayStation) ‘09
9. gtamann123 - Lexus IS F Racing Concept ‘08
10. u_are_lol (uMadson?) - Dodge Viper GTS-R Team Oreca #51 ‘00
11. hOllOW777 - Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car ‘98
Despite a lighter turnout than what could have been, we were all ready for the race...
From pole position, my 4WD system gave me a big advantage as I was able to get off the line quickly. Unfortunately...Lotrzyna's GT-R R35 had a similar 4WD system, and more power, meaning I dropped to 2nd with near immediate effect.
TP1's Corvette managed to get a superb start from 5th and he made it up to 2nd with some good moves into the first corner. ibonibo's R33 ended up running pretty wide here, with him losing places.
I made a bad mistake going into Ford-Kurve, leaving OK8's fast starting Diablo with a clear run into 3rd place. As it turned out, I would never see him again afterwards.
But as you can kinda see by the position of Lotrzyna's wipers, it had started raining. With the changeability on 1...which meant it probably wouldn't change back.
Hollow's R390 had also gotten a great start, moving up to 6th, and even with this spin-out remained there.
OK8 was quick to pass TP1's Vette, with the Chevy seemingly having run rather wide.
With that, he went and began to set off after Lotrzyna.
Hollow was driving the wheels off the R390, moving up to 5th ahead of Marky's R8 LMS.
Marky would soon fall victim to Dan's BMW M3 GTR Race Car.
Aaaaand then he would fall back further through falling victim to bonibo's R33.
Meanwhile, back with yours' truly, I noticed Hollow's faster R390 heading towards me with rapid pace.
Whilst at the front, Lotrzyna had gone wide and gifted the lead to OK8.
By the time we were out of Bergwerk, Hollow's R390 was really onto me. With less power in a fast section I would be hopeless...
But then Hollow's R390 just sort of...slowed. I now had a pretty wide berth again.
Indeed, Hollow fell towards Dan quickly...but that was alleviated by Steilstrecke, with Dan getting it wrong and losing time.
Further back, bonibo's R33 had lost places, and u_are_lol (Andre, his real name, from here on) took advantage of a slip in concentration to gain a place.
But as Andre closed in on Marky's R8, he found his own patch of grass and fell back.
Later round the lap the R33 and R8 would fight again, with the R33 already looking pretty scrappy by this point.
Back at the front, it seemed as if TP1, still ahead of me, was having trouble with his Corvette.
By the time we were at Schwalbenschwanz I was right with him.
He duly missed the inside of Karussell II and ran off the track putting me into 3rd.
At the front, with the night-time vanishing into day, OK8 elected to continue on slicks despite the rain being at around 20%.
Lotrzyna would do the same...
...and I duly followed their lead. But TP1, behind me having stuck with me down Dottinger Hohe, did decide to pit...
...and the rest of the field duly followed suit.
Only monoha stayed out otherwise, and he was running in last place anyway (and even then only ended up 8th after the stops).
This now meant many different things. Me and the two people in front of me had stayed on slicks and now had a wide berth, but the people who had changed to inters would be faster over the lap. Plus, the Nurb is a long track, so there was no telling what the state of the track was gonna be by the time I got around another 15 miles on my slicks...
But either way, the new set of inters did not look like they were helping TP1 out very much as he spun off at the Dunlop-Kehre, leaving Hollow with a free pass to 4th.
Bonibo was able to snag 5th as well. (I forget if he did pit, though if he did he must have had a very good run to get to 6th beforehand...)
However, bonibo would slip wide and lose his position hardly any time before he'd gained it.
Dan took his chance to get 6th as well.
Back with me, I came up to the Nordschleife again and noticed my FTO now suffering from understeer. This is not what the FTO normally does by any means, and it meant one clear thing: I was now on the wrong tyres. As would be confirmed by a spectator later (Furinkazen), claiming this message:
"Inters people, hang in there: you are catching up"
Even without that message though, I knew already I was in for a huge battle with the elements here.
Lotrzyna was suffering from even bigger problems. He simply could not keep his R35 on the track and was now falling back into my hands.
Despite my huge disadvantage I refused to let my FTO slip off track, fighting against its new driving style. I was even drifting it at this point, which obviously meant the world had fallen on one side because 4WD drifting is supposed to be impossible (well, I have this one Evo 9 that does it with some kind of special magic...what sort it is, I don't quite know).
Further back, Marky's R8 LMS was now working his way back up and passed the non-stopping SLS of monoha.
And with Andre making a pass as well, it was clear monoha was now ruing his decision to stick with RH tyres.
TP1's Vette still did not look up to scratch as Dan now passed him with his M3 GTR.
Back at the front, Lotrzyna was still struggling with his big R35...
...and I had now closed right in.
The final straw was Lotrzyna binning it at Steilstrecke, giving me a free pass to the heady heights of 2nd place.
TP1 would also fail to get round Steilstrecke, leaving Marky clear to move into 7th. (Steilstrecke seemed rather like a bogey corner this race...I'm used to being absolutely hopeless on Schwedenkreuz instead
)
Lotrzyna's struggle continued and now Hollow closed in...
...and sure enough, in went the R390 into 3rd.
And as I was completely missing the banking of Karussell II...Hollow was well and truly closing in on the inters.
As we arrived at the Dottinger Hohe, I had a 15mph disadvantage next to the R390.
And sure enough, Hollow breezed by.
But somehow, I was barely able to keep in the slipstream of the R390...
...and what was a 15mph disadvantage became an 8mph advantage for me as I pulled alongside Hollow, not fearing any consequences of such a battle on the wrong tyres...
We went completely side by side into Antoniusbusche, but the tyre advantage made itself very clear and Hollow retained 2nd.
Even so, we both struggled through the last corner, with Hollow sliding insanely and me trying bringing my tyres home in a final struggle.
Amidst all of this, OK8, alone at the front, had finally made his pitstop, deciding to switch to full rain tyres.
I then finally made my long overdue pitstop, fitting inters, leaving Hollow well and truly ahead.
Somehow I managed to lose one solitary position, to Dan's M3 GTR, and I was more than close enough to attempt a pass on my new clean inters.
Monoha never made it round to pit for rain tyres, pulling off to the side in his SLS.
Lotrzyna, meanwhile, finally pitted in for his full rain tyres, his race now damaged beyond repair with him joining back in 7th behind Andre's Viper.
(To clarify, TP1 and bonibo also pitted for full wets, the pair of them having dropped to the last two spots prior to their stops.)
I now had to set about reclaiming 3rd...but my new inters weren't feeling like much help. Indeed, they were still cold and understeery as I left the pits.
Dan's inters were worn though, and his M3 GTR wasn't looking very comfortable either.
As we went into the Nordschleife, we were closer than ever...
And as we came into the first Nordkehre turn, I took the inside line and took 3rd place.
Dan pressed me after I passed him, but his challenge came to a halt when he ran off the road between Flugplatz and Schwedenkreuz (helpful you slipped off before my worst corner, thanks mate!
).
In the battle behind us, Andre got up to 5th with a pass on Marky's R8 LMS.
However, Andre seemed more keen to return to the GP loop, with Marky taking 5th place back before long.
And one man was far from defeated yet...with Lotrzyna beginning an attempt to salvage back some places with a move on Andre at Adenauer Forst.
And as the night time returned once again, he salvaged a top 5 position from Marky and his R8 LMS.
Much of the rest of the race passed without incident, but the water levels got as high as 80% by the end of the race, rendering inters almost a liability. Still, I didn't have too many problems despite the extra rain.
And with that, OK8 crossed the line to win a quiet but clinical race from himself.
Hollow was some 30 seconds back, driving a brilliant and classy race in the R390...
...and me, in the little classic FTO, some 150hp down on the limit, and on the wrong tyres for some 12 miles of driving, came home 3rd. I took on the challenge...and succeeded well and truly.
Final Results:
1. OK8 - Lamborghini Nomad Diablo GT1 '00 ^ 6 - Drove a great race. Handled the rain very well despite the wrong tyres, and I never saw him after lap 1. Bravo.
2. hOllOw777 - Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car '98 ^ 9 - Drove a brilliant race from last on the grid. Made up 5 spots at the start, got the tyres right and gave me a real run for my money in places - the battle with him at Dottinger Hohe was probably my most fun part of the race, and he proved a great driver. 👍
3. V16T91 (C-ZETA) - Mitsubishi FTO Super Touring Car v 2 - Doing such a great job in a car so below a huge majority of these cars should never have been possible. But the FTO Super Touring Car is different. I trusted it as my favourite in the game, and it delivered very well. I managed to keep a strong position at the start while others lost theirs, and though I had to fight a very tough battle in the rain on slicks, I still lost just one place from the whole ordeal overall and gained it back by the end anyway.
4. GTP_Dan360 (Dan360) - BMW M3 GTR Race Car '01 <> 0 - Had a busy race as it would appear, but made the most of the conditions. Made to work very hard at the start but made a good margin over the other runners in the end, being the only man to get ahead of me after my pitstop impressively. Bravo...
5. Lotrzyna - Nissan GT-R R35 Touring Car v 3 - Looked so promising, but the rain won the fight against him unfortunately and he was left in a real pickle after his rain nightmare. Did a good enough job to come home 5th, but what could have been...
6. marky264 - Audi R8 LMS Race Car (Team PlayStation) '09 ^ 2 - Never really got to see much of this guy, but he seemed to move around the midfield a lot. He struggled at first but was able to pull the gap back whilst others lost their heads. Fought with Andre for most of the last moments and came out ahead, so good on him.
7. u_are_lol (uMadson?) - Dodge Viper GTS-R Team Oreca #91 '00 ^ 3 - Remained around the rear midfield for just about the whole race, never reaching higher than 5th following Lotrzyna's pitstop and his battle with Marky. In the end, he would get repassed by Lotrzyna and would lose his battle with Marky, but good job for trying anyway
8. thepineapple1 (TP1) - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) RM '06 v 3 - Exploded out of the blocks, and went backwards from that point on. His Vette seemed much like a glass cannon throughout this - and it would be, with the silver/red chrome paint he game the car. Started well, then started struggling and never adapted to the inters, falling down the order quickly. Calling in for rain tyres at the end didn't help.
9. ibonibo - Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 Touring Car v 6 - Hung around Marky a lot for the first part of the race, but much like TP1 did not adapt to the inters and fell back.
10. GTP_monoha (monoha) - Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG '10 v 4 - Seemed like a case of picking the wrong car here. He was in the only road car sans Hollow's R390, and that is hardly a road car in some cases. Tried to stay out on dry tyres but his strategy didn't pay off and he pulled off on Lap 2.
DNF. gtamann123 - Lexus IS F Racing Concept
I would say this was just about the best race I have ever had on GT5 online to date. The funny thing is, both my best races, offline and online, have been in an FTO STC - my favourite car. So as you can see, a car like it brings great fortune to races. I also recommend you pick one up - it is just the most remarkable thing, with dead perfect handling in dry weather and plenty of nostalgia behind it.
...Well, I would recommend you buy it, but there's something that gets in the way now that I'll come onto later.
We also did a second race in the lobby later on - 3 laps still, but with 1 time progression and no weather with the race starting at 17:00 in-game time. There were 15 racers in this, the missing link being myself actually (there are many reasons I chose not to, some for the good of this race, and others for the bad of the race that followed). Unfortunately, a Gillet Vertigo that I hugely underestimated (I have always seen the Vertigo as an absolute 🤬, but the huge power limiter that was probably applied might have contributed hugely to its win) ran away with the race completely, although it was getting closed in on by the end by OK8 again in his Lambo, who got 2nd. A Mark IV got 3rd IIRC, and I believe Marky finished around about the top 5 in his R8 LMS, ahead of Hollow, who was equipped with a VW Nardo W12 this time. A couple of other GTP faces joined the lobby, with the likes of Manuelos in another R8 LMS providing competition in the race. (Also, for pretty much all the racers the RH tyres actually went on Lap 2 and they had to pit, which goes to show what a mess the tyre wear is in this game...)
To be fair, the amount of diversity in both the races was great and provided plenty of awesomeness to all the races. Thank you to all who came to my lobby that evening: the whole thing would never have been here without you all!
This is also, coincidentally, the last known sample I have of the FTO STCs old sound in GT5 before this update. I shall be keeping this for a long time, yes indeed. Speaking of which...
(Excuse me while I go off-topic for a completely necessary rant I feel)
PD, why the 🤬 hell are you vandalising one of the best parts of a great car and turning it into a pile of complete dog crap? There is a petition going on to try and post on Twitter experiencing our displeasure at the new sounds, and while I don't care too much about the new sounds for anything else, I would join in just to bring back my FTO STC back to full normality. Do it now.
BRING BACK THE FTO STC
Copy and paste this into your sigs for old sound support
[/rant]
So anyway, that concludes this race report, of what I believe to be probably my favourite of any online race I have had to date...to everyone that came and raced at my lobby, I certainly, dearly hope you enjoyed these races as much as I did, and thank you so much for coming along to make the lobby a hit. Take care, good night!
All pictures and writing by C-ZETA
All that was missing from the race was an obligatory Clio hitting a Porsche on the line. Yeah.
Last edited:
