La Sarthe and Spa ,weather report and other " stuff "

[smoothbore12]

Since i play almost every day this " griding " race , i decide to collect some data from mine and other players races about the weather .

In the past, guessing that my memory serves me well , heavy rain weather was close to the end of the month and before the usual update.
I think that didn't happens this month , but starting from August 8 after the update,here is the results.

Dry races = 26
Light rain to dry = 20
Light rain to. rain = 14
Rain = 27
Heavy rain = 14

So we have 55 races that wet tyres needed ( nevermind the type ) and 46 races that no tyre change needed due to weather.

Other notes
The last 3 days the weather seems very " light " .
Only one time this month, occurs heavy rain for four consecutive laps .

Races are done with various cars , my races the last two weeks ( approximately ) are done mostly with a Peujot 908 Fap , wearing intermediate tyres and FM6 all the way without the need of pitstop for 6 or 7 laps either.

Lap times are below 4.20 in dry conditions and need some seconds more depending on weather ( and if penalties apply ) to end close to 30 minutes on " dry " race.

The OTHER STUFF in the title means that you can write anything you want for the particular race , things you want to share , ask or whatever.

May sounds very generic but since there isn't any tread dedicated to that race as there is for Sartegna and Tokyo , might this one serve the cause.
They are many players that use this race every day for griding purposes but usually they don't " share" any information about it .
Its time to spice things up ?
Time will tell .......


EDIT

Just added and SPA since are the two weather changeable races in the same thread.
So both races can be served here with anything you like about them.

 

[ClassicKent]

@smoothbore12 - Thank you for your dedication. It’s this sort of data collection activity that show great this game could be. Keep having fun with it

 

[jrbabbitt]

@smoothbore12 , I will happy to contribute to this thread...
I work nights and I'm usually doing my runs when I get home. Tonight's run is planned for my 300SL....

 

[smoothbore12]

Thanks guys , feel free to express yourself with what pleases you .

 

[Daxus]

I never do this grind, bur I'm very curious about the speed of the weather.

Has anybody ever paid attention how long it takes for a point on the weather map to pass one or two lines on the grid when it's fully zoomed out by any chance?

 

[jrbabbitt]

Tonight I ran it twice, first with my 300 SL

It was mild weather during this race. Clouds appeared on the radar at usual time of 2/3 of lap two but did not physically rain until the end of lap three and had only accumulated to the top of stage one wet meter. I pitted at that time (end of 3) but did not change tyres just took on fuel. The wet meter only reached little into stage two during lap 4 and I reduced speed to maintain stability on RH tyres. Laps 5-7 were run under sunny conditions with track drying quickly. The 300 SL handled well throughout the race and won with a margin of about 40 seconds.
Second race was ran about 30 minutes later with the Alpine 220

This car easily won this race and the weather was very similar to the first race but there was only clouds and no rain at all on track. Like the first race, laps 5-7 were ran in bright sunlight.

 

[smoothbore12]

Has anybody ever paid attention how long it takes for a point on the weather map to pass one or two lines on the grid when it's fully zoomed out by any chance?

I think before few months was moving very fast but to be honest i didn't really pay attention to this.
Sometimes now, looks like standing here and mostly when is about light rain clouds.
Other times change rapidly ( short of ) with green and yellow spots everywhere,but not always has the same affect to the track .

What is moving " fast " is the wind speed which is different almost every lap .
Its something that i noticed lately cause sometimes speed and wind direction helps a lot slower cars, to gain more top end speed like the one i use lately.

The changeable weather and the time limit are things that " Hot gun " players doesn't like because they " interrupt " or downgrade the meaning of Faster .
That is fully understandable of course and i don't blame them.
But am not sure that they " think " the same about those who use this race and not the most common as is Tokyo and Sartegna.

Anyway,if i collect more information about your question, ill let you know.

 

[StuntmanRich]

Why does the weather frequently travel in the opposite direction to the wind?

 

[jrbabbitt]

Why does the weather frequently travel in the opposite direction to the wind?

There it's no relation to the weather in radar and the wind speed/ direction on map. It's not programmed that way.

 

[jrbabbitt]

Ferrari 365 GTB4 '71 race modified and with rear wing installed.
Tyres: RH
FM-6
Lap 1- sunny.
Lap 2- beginning to cloud over, clouds appear in radar at 1st chicane.
Lap 3- complete cloud cover in sky but no rain, showers skirt to the east of track. Pitstop at end of lap for fuel only, keeping RH tyres.
Lap 4- no rain and sun is peeking through the overcast.
Lap 5- no rain but clouds over again and in radar they are off to the west of track.
Lap 6- LeMans is sunny again, pitstop for fuel only, RH tyres 1/3 red.
Lap 7- sunny and another easy win.
This is something I noticed, with older cars that have poor brakes, I installed the yellow caliper carbon brakes and it really improved the braking in the race. The distance was considerably shorter than i had experienced before.
Race two:
Ferrari 365 GTB4 '71 race modified and with rear wing removed, a little tail happy but controllable.
Tyres: RH
FM-6
Lap 1- sunny.
Lap 2- beginning to cloud over, nothing in radar.
Lap 3- complete cloud cover in sky but still no radar clouds. Pitstop at end of lap for fuel only, keeping RH tyres.
Lap 4- clouds appear in radar and pass without rain on track.
Lap 5- started raining and got heavy at end of Mulsanne. Stage 2 but half full. Went in pits for Wets and topped off on fuel.
Lap 6- no rain anymore and none in radar, track drying out slowly.
Lap 7- partly cloudy and another easy win.

 

[Batschisane52]

I never do this grind, bur I'm very curious about the speed of the weather.

Has anybody ever paid attention how long it takes for a point on the weather map to pass one or two lines on the grid when it's fully zoomed out by any chance?

As with the weather in general at the WTC 700 race in Sarthe, it is the same withe the speed of the weather/of the rainclouds: it is different in every race...if you watch the weather radar for a while (minimum half a lap I would recomend...), you can get a general idea about the speed of the weather
Same goes with the track drying up after the race(sometimes the track dries up really quick, sometimes it can take up to 2 full laps, to get try again...)

 

[Chikane_GTR]

Please delete

 

[Chikane_GTR]

Please delete

 

[smoothbore12]

I admire your motivation " Billionaire" .
Also you try different car every time, so the question is what cars have the most pleasant behaviour and what is your favourite from those you run ?

The same question is for everyone using this race ,
what are your favourite cars here and if you want share your tunes for them.

 

[05XR8]

No rain at all, in my only race at la Sarthe, yesterday. Bright sunny day in VR.

 

[Daxus]

As with the weather in general at the WTC 700 race in Sarthe, it is the same withe the speed of the weather/of the rainclouds: it is different in every race...if you watch the weather radar for a while minimum half a lap i woukd say...), you can get a general idea about the speed of the weather
Same goes with the track drying up after the race(sometimes the track dries up really quick, sometimes it can take up to 2 full laps, to get try again...)

The reason I'm curious about it is because at Spa WTC800 the weather/cloud speed is between 1300-3000km/h according to the weather radar and it should be slightly slower then the wind speed (IRL). It should also follow the direction of the wind, but usually it is in the reverse direction and it goes against the wind. I've seen it go in the correct direction too.

Usually the in-game wind speed is between 2-6m/s which needs to be multiplied by 3.6 to get to km/h, but that even doesn't come close to the speed of the weather.

 

[CarloPlaya]

The reason I'm curious about it is because at Spa WTC800 the weather/cloud speed is between 1300-3000km/h according to the weather radar and it should be slightly slower then the wind speed (IRL). It should also follow the direction of the wind, but usually it is in the reverse direction and it goes against the wind. I've seen it go in the correct direction too.

Usually the in-game wind speed is between 2-6m/s which needs to be multiplied by 3.6 to get to km/h, but that even doesn't come close to the speed of the weather.

Do you really think that the wind direction at surface level directly correlates to weather cluster movements several km higher up?

Didn't you have geography classes in school?

 

[smoothbore12]

Do you really think that the wind direction at surface level directly correlates to weather cluster movements several km higher up?

Didn't you have geography classes in school?

Sorry to interrupt but i think geography or not has nothing to do with how the game is programmed.

The weather take from one or less minute, up to 1.5 minutes to run from line to line .
You can't measure clouds because they change rapidly, easier is to measure edges or the end lines when they are moving .


And i was wondering about at the beginning why the weather goes up when the direction of wind is different, but thats what it is .
Isn't worth to make a problem from that , after all everything is X something, tyre wear , fuel consumption and why not and the weather.

 

[Chikane_GTR]

Please delete

 

[Batschisane52]

I admire your motivation " Billionaire" .
Also you try different car every time, so the question is what cars have the most pleasant behaviour and what is your favourite from those you run ?

The same question is for everyone using this race ,
what are your favourite cars here and if you want share your tunes for them.

I try to use as many different cars as possible for this race(...and 98% of the cars that I use and have used before are/were modified and customized road cars or vintage race cars...i never use GR3, GR2 or GR1 cars and i can't remember that i ever used a VGT car...)

So I change a lot, but there are some cars that I use more frequently...

Corvette C4(both, vanilla and swapped)
De Lorean(with the engine swap)
Ferrari Testarossa
Ferrari GTO
De Tomaso Pantera(both, but i like the non swapped more)

 

[jrbabbitt]

Ford Sierra Cosworth

Tyres: RH
FM-6
Lap 1- sunny.
Lap 2- beginning to cloud over, light rain in radar but not on track past Mulsanne
Lap 3- complete cloud cover in sky and in radar but not raining on track .
Lap 4- clouds in radar still not raining, did some conservative driving to make the pits before I ran out of fuel, kept RH tyres
Lap 5- clouds came back and rain appeared on track but not enough to matter.
Lap 6- no rain anymore and none in radar, track drying out .
Lap 7- partly cloudy and another easy win.

 

[jrbabbitt]

BMW M3 '89 without engine swap, fully tuned and modified for race.
Tyres: RH
FM-6
Lap 1- sunny.
Lap 2- beginning to cloud over, light rain with big spots of dark blue on radar light train on track past Mulsanne, went into pits to change tyres and top off fuel
Lap 3- made error in switching tyres because the rains never were heavy enough to use the Wets.
Lap 4- clouds went away as my Wets burned up and back into the pits to change to RM tyres
Lap 5- still cloudy but no rains and dropped back to p11 and now playing catchup
Lap 6- no rain anymore and none in radar.
Lap 7- sun came out and I pulled out a win with 25 second lead.

 

[smoothbore12]

Yesterday i faced 3 dry races in a row !!!!!
Only one of them had some light rain that almost touch the first line .
Am in a phase that am trying to buy all gr3-4 cars and i use some of them in this race.
Yesterday i try 458 Ferrari and a wrong call for intermediate tyres reveals that they doesn't last a single lap in a dry track !!!!
Also i check their fuel consumption using FM6 .

I see that there is a huge variety to what players use for this race and that's a good .
So if you like you can add the type of FM you use like @jrbabbitt did, plus your average Lap times ( not the fastest) to have a reference where cars can move.

Another information that you van add is the type of difficulty you're playing at, easy ? Normal or hard ?

 

[jrbabbitt]

Nissan Silvia Q's (S13) '88

Engine Swap and detuned down to 700 hp
Tyres: RH
FM-6 2-3 laps
Lap 1- sunny and bright, going easy on throttle as easy to spin.
Lap 2- beginning to cloud over, light rain with spots of dark blue on radar started raining light at end of lap and I pushed on for another lap
Lap 3- rain heavy in last half of lap with spots of green and yellow showing, heavy rains (stage 2 wetness) and slower pace to pit lane, changed tyres to IM (my error, wanted wets) and full tank of fuel.
Lap 4- heavy yellow spotted rains with finally stage 3 wetness and with a slow pace to maintain stability completed lap in rain.
Lap 5- rains stop and clouds clear away, track drying slowly.
Lap 6- no clouds, track drying. Time runs out just before I cross the start/ finish line and claim a win.
Lap 7- no lap.

 

[jrbabbitt]

Last night's grind...
Honda Civic EK (Touring Car)
Fully tuned and started with RM Tyres and initially with FM6 but that was a bust because I could not catch up to P18 at beginning of race so I dropped it to FM3 and made a go of it.
Lap 1 Sunny with no weather concerns.
Lap 2 Clouded over and rain was over track in radar at end of lap but not raining on track. Finally passed P1 at end of lap.
Lap 3 Light rain started on track and off in distance on radar I see large blob of dark blue rain coming. I'm past Mulsanne when the heavy rains come stage 2 and slow accordingly to get to the pits to tip off and change to wets.
Lap 4 Still raining hard at times but staying at stage 2 so with wets I drive on but cautiously.
Lap 5 Rain stops and track dries out so slowly, and my Wets start wearing down. Pit at end to change back to RM
Lap 6 Dry track and in P2 behind the Viper but knowing he goes to pit at end of the lap means I will take lead as I start...
Lap 7 Sunny and dry for a victory.

Was awarded a ☆☆☆☆☆☆ basic ticket.

 

[smoothbore12]

Yesterday i try many different gr3 cars cause my " forced" day of due to very bad weather.
Some was " nice" but definitely need tuning ( run almost stock form the most of them ) to unlock their full potential.
I use FM6 at the beginning to find out their lap capability and change it when don't needed after the pit stop.
Mixed weather with two cases the rain start falling during lap 5 which is something that not happens very often.
I don't know if i use the " right " ones but am not convinced to leave my latest " discovery " 908 fap and his safe and relaxing runs.

This is my favourite car and if someone test it he will understand what i mean.
I use this settings

Didn't add more weight to add more power cause i find out how it is, is the sweet spot between performance and tyre wear.
Is capable to win under any level of difficulty with average lap time ( not fastest ) from 4.18 to 4.20 plus on dry track and without penalties served.
Intermediate all the way to 7 lap race and FM6 from the beginning.
It's on the side " lazy man's griding " .

 

[jrbabbitt]

This is my favourite car and if someone test it he will understand what i mean.

I will invest the Cr. and try this tonight

 

[smoothbore12]

I will invest the Cr. and try this tonight

I forgot to mention that i am impressed how you manage to go to the pits when rain caught you out on RH tyres without using MT gears.
For me its almost " impossible" the most of the times .
Am waiting for your impressions mate .

 

[jrbabbitt]

I forgot to mention that i am impressed how you manage to go to the pits when rain caught you out on RH tyres without using MT gears.
For me its almost " impossible" the most of the times .
Am waiting for your impressions mate .

I am a controller user and I have some dexterity issues so I use the L2/R2 triggers for throttle and brakes and I drive with auto transmission because I have troubles with the buttons for shifting and I can concentrate on my driving without having to worry about the gears much.
I try to change tyres to wets before it goes heavy rains but when I am out on track and it starts raining I usually am a distance from P2 and I can slow down and drive conservatively without having to worry about being passed or hit by the AI.
In real life I live in the south east coast of US, it rains a lot, so I drive a bit slower and conservatively and I found out it works well the same way in GT7.
If you try going all out on race slicks in high stage 2 wet you will slide a bit, and if it hits stage 3 you are on ice, just a passenger, no controlling it at all. This is why I slow and gentle my way to the pits when I get caught in the heavy rains.
Sometime soon I will have to make a YT post on my rain driving...
P.s. I got the Peugeot 908 and it is the first time I ever did a nonstop 7 lap race at LeMans, will post details later....

 

[smoothbore12]

Am a controller user also but an " old school " one .
I use only ........ buttons 🤐.

Judging from your lap times @jrbabbitt you face rain or you was conservative ?
Need a couple of runs to adapt and try to find the limits of the car ( mostly ) but definitely you can push it .
They were times that i did my fastest laps at 5th and 6th lap on a bone dry race .

Looking forward for your comments 😃


PS
3-4 days now that am using different gr3 cars only two are coming easy on my memory,
A Renault one and 458 Ferrari.