GTPub: Spec & Shuffle Racing!

  • Thread starter BrandonW77
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Indianapolis
BrandonW77
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Welcome to the GTPub, a place for clean-driving GTP members to hang out and enjoy some friendly, casual racing. This section of the GTPub will focus on quick and accessible racing using Shuffle and "Spec" (recommended garage) racing. These types of racing can be joined by anyone at a moments notice since they require no preparation or advanced planning. Simply show up, jump in the car provided for you and enjoy some clean racing and friendly competition! Shuffle racing usually attracts a good crowd and we've been regularly seeing full rooms with clean racing.

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Spec and Shuffle racing will take place in public rooms and anyone will be allowed to join, even "Randoms". However, there will be no tolerance for poor driving or bad racecraft and if anyone proves to be unable to race cleanly they will, after receiving a warning, be shown the door. When a room is created an announcement will be made in this thread and anyone will be welcome to join. If the room gets full we may have someone break off and open another room, GTPub2.

No commitment, no points, no complicated procedures, just good competition with clean and friendly drivers. No membership or registration is required, this is open to everyone on GTP that holds themselves to the OLR and the Good Racecraft Guide. Tell your friends, bring your teammates, and let's go racing!
 
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The Pub will be open on and off during the week but Tuesday at 8pm EDT is a guaranteed night and Saturday at 3pm EDT will also be a regular time slot. These are times I am available but there will be other hosts who can also open the Pub as their schedules permit. If you're interested in being a host send me a PM and we'll discuss your hosting experience. The room will be held to a high standard both in racecraft and promptness and approved hosts will be expected to uphold these standards.
If a driver is causing problems please alert the host and they will give the driver a warning or the boot.

During race sessions we will switch between shuffle racing and recommended garage racing. When shuffle racing we will start towards the bottom of the PP base and work our way up. Similarly with recommended garage racing, we will start towards the bottom of the list (mostly avoiding FF cars) and work our way towards the higher ranges. Races will average 3-6 laps depending on the track (La Sarthe and Nordschlife will be limited to 1 or 2 laps) and the host will select the tracks. There will be approximately 5 minutes between races, enough time for most people to get an out lap and a warm up lap.


• All aids will be off except ABS.
• Shuffle base will be kept at 1 or 0.
• When possible, races will be run with "Reverse grid from previous race results".
• Penalties will be OFF
• Damage will be LIGHT
• Slipstream will be WEAK
• Grip will be REAL
• Tire wear will be:
- Comfort Tires: VERY FAST
- Sports Hard/Medium: FAST
- Sports Soft or higher: NORMAL

• Race quality: HIGH
• Chat quality: STANDARD
• Maximum number of drivers: 15
(prevents full room lag)
• Host: FIXED
(prevents poor host from giving room a bad reputation)
 
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1. Drive as clean and respectful as possible. Try to avoid contact with fellow racers.
2. No hitting, ramming, corner cutting, or intentional blocking allowed.
3. Accidents do happen. If you knock someone off course allow them to regain their position.
4. If there is any doubt as to whether you will be able to cleanly pull off a pass, wait till another corner.
5. NO DIVE-BOMBING (to the inside OR outside)
6. Bump drafting among the lead two cars is discouraged. Drivers should make the pass when possible and NOT work as a team to open a gap on the field. Make your pass and let the cards fall where they may. This ensures the drivers further back have a chance to catch up to the leaders if they should make a mistake. Drivers not in the lead 2 spots are permitted to bump draft.
7. Drivers are expected to keep at least 2 wheels on the track/curb at all times.
8. Blocking is not permitted. You get one move to choose your line and then you must hold it. You can not swerve back and forth.
9. Please keep chat box and mic chatter to a minimum during qualifying and racing.
10. And of course please follow the GTPlanet Online Rules :gtpflag:
 
At the moment, I want to confirm with people before I put them on the list. I've been having rooms open 3-5 times per week though so getting a room going shouldn't be an issue
 
How late is the Tuesday one by GMT I assume it's 12am GMT which would work.

Also random rooms during the week I will try make :).
 
How late is the Tuesday one by GMT I assume it's 12am GMT which would work.

Also random rooms during the week I will try make :).

During the summer it's midnight GMT, yes. Hope to see you on track. 👍

@DSG, I'll list you as a host. You can open a GTPub room anytime I don't already have one open. I figured I would list approved hosts so if a room is being hosted by someone other than me (but on the hosts list) people will know it's under good control. 👍
 
Sometimes it's difficult to find a good room, I'll definitely stop by. I don't think my connection is capable enough to host sadly.
 
The Pub will be open on...Saturday at 3pm EDT


That's 7pm BST, so I'll definitely be up for a few rounds at the GT Pub on some Saturdays. :D

Nice one Brandon! 👍
 
Slim pickings on hosts eh?

I'm definitely interested. I'd be happy to host sometimes as well if you want me to. Can't commit to any specific nights due to my schedule but I should be able to give a days notice type of thing. Do we have a fixed title for marketing purposes...lol? GTPub Spec/Shuffle maybe?...should fit. Brilliant name by the way, wish I'd thought of it!!

On another note, I did an exchange on my G27 today..so far so good. I am back to original warranty again...yay!

My first suggestion...in time it would be nice to develop a standard list of spec cars we should all have in our garages so we can expand the spec racing aspect of things with little fuss. The usual favourites, Ferrari's, Impreza's, Countach, whatever...at least a good selection of the fun to drive cars most people will already have anyway.
 
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My first suggestion...in time it would be nice to develop a standard list of spec cars we should all have in our garages so we can expand the spec racing aspect of things with little fuss. The usual favourites, Ferrari's, Impreza's, Countach, whatever...at least a good selection of the fun to drive cars most people will already have anyway.

Excellent suggestion - the Recommended list is quite limited. Some Ferrari's or whatever people feel like (RUFs?), and definitely the car most glaringly missing from the Rec list: the MX-5 Miata.
 
I'm definitely interested. I'd be happy to host sometimes as well if you want me to. Can't commit to any specific nights due to my schedule but I should be able to give a days notice type of thing. Do we have a fixed title for marketing purposes...lol? GTPub Spec/Shuffle maybe?...should fit. Brilliant name by the way, wish I'd thought of it!!

On another note, I did an exchange on my G27 today..so far so good. I am back to original warranty again...yay!

My first suggestion...in time it would be nice to develop a standard list of spec cars we should all have in our garages so we can expand the spec racing aspect of things with little fuss. The usual favourites, Ferrari's, Impreza's, Countach, whatever...at least a good selection of the fun to drive cars most people will already have anyway.

I've got quite a few cars broken in and ready to go for Spec racing. :) I like the idea.

Thursday nights I do a Nurb room where we pick the cars ahead of time and run them stock. Works very well. As well all are welcome to come race Thursdays. Ill post room number here. 90% of the people that show up are league racers and race very clean.
 
Excellent suggestion - the Recommended list is quite limited. Some Ferrari's or whatever people feel like (RUFs?), and definitely the car most glaringly missing from the Rec list: the MX-5 Miata.

The RGT and 3400S are both great cars in stock form. BTR and Yellowbird are a bit of a handful:crazy: but worthy of a race or two sometime...lol.
 
I plan to branch out eventually, just using the spec and shuffle for now to get things going and keep us all together and racing until something better comes along. It seems most groups are seeing declining attendance so IMO it's not worth trying to have an "organized series", but we can still get together for fun racing.

@JP, I always name the room GTPub Spec & Shuffle (if we're doing spec and shuffle racing) with the hopes that others will start to recognize the name and know they will get good racing. It seems to be working, we've had a few repeat Random customers and they've all been good drivers so far. I do swiftly boot anyone that's being a problem, for minor infractions I'll give them one warning but if there's nonsense they get removed quickly.

My only concern with branching out to other cars is making sure Random's (who don't read the thread) play by the rules. With shuffle and recommended garage I have some control over what random people can drive, if the guidelines are too loose I'd be concerned that I'd spend most my time telling people what car they need to be in. One thought is using, for example, the Ferrari street car restriction. We could choose one of Ferrari's to drive in "spec/no tuning" mode and I could ask everyone to just get in the selected Ferrari. We could cycle through the different models during the session, start with F430's, then 458's, then F40's, etc. I still wouldn't have complete control over that but since their only option would be one of the Ferrari's they'd likely either grab one and hop on track or say "stooopid noob host, I want my X1" and leave. 👍
 
The RGT and 3400S are both great cars in stock form. BTR and Yellowbird are a bit of a handful:crazy: but worthy of a race or two sometime...lol.

I was thinking more the 3400S and RGT, the BTR and Yellow Bird are fun but are not to everyones taste. And the CTR2 is just not fun to drive period.

My only concern with branching out to other cars is making sure Random's (who don't read the thread) play by the rules. With shuffle and recommended garage I have some control over what random people can drive, if the guidelines are too loose I'd be concerned that I'd spend most my time telling people what car they need to be in. One thought is using, for example, the Ferrari street car restriction. We could choose one of Ferrari's to drive in "spec/no tuning" mode and I could ask everyone to just get in the selected Ferrari. We could cycle through the different models during the session, start with F430's, then 458's, then F40's, etc. I still wouldn't have complete control over that but since their only option would be one of the Ferrari's they'd likely either grab one and hop on track or say "stooopid noob host, I want my X1" and leave. 👍

Well, you obviously have to tell people what car to use - Tuning: Prohibited and PP limit should prevent most randoms. If people are not following the rules, why would we want them to stick around? (Because more than likely, if they don't listen to your instructions on the car, what else are they not going to listen to?) You should just boot them.
 
Well, you obviously have to tell people what car to use - Tuning: Prohibited and PP limit should prevent most randoms. If people are not following the rules, why would we want them to stick around? (Because more than likely, if they don't listen to your instructions on the car, what else are they not going to listen to?) You should just boot them.

And I will boot them, I just don't want to spend all my time booting people instead of racing. Having good room restrictions will (in theory) scare off the riff-raff and attract the people who actually want good racing. The Ferrari restriction is a good example, if people see they can only get in a Ferrari and not a Tank car or some other nonsense they'll likely either just leave or say "heck yeah, I'll jump in a F430 Scuderia and race with these dudes!" At least that's my plan, should make things a little easier.

@Rido, we run in public rooms but if you want to send me a FR so you can just follow me into the room feel free.
 
Well, I figured so. I just don't see that much difference between the way you would like to run it and what I suggested. I really don't see it as much of a deterrent (or attraction). But that's just my opinion, and I support this 'group' completely.
 
I must say my replacement G27 is a breath of fresh air. I didn't realize how much I was compensating my driving style by being afraid of knocking the wheel off centre, not to mention I had turned the FFB down from 8 to 2 to try and avoid the problem to begin with and lost some feel for the car:crazy:

One thing I'm fairly certain of Brandon is you'll have lots of lieutenant's available to help enforce the rules. Unlike a lot of rooms where people rely entirely on the host and are afraid to speak up, I'm sure most of us regulars will be only too happy to point out and attempt to converse with newbs in the wrong car should we get to the point where we are using spec cars outside the Rec garage. Using the limitations provided like "Ferrari only" will actually resolve most of the problem anyway, and once you get inside those groupings, it doesn't matter nearly as much what car someone chooses as the good choices are usually readily apparent and there is no way to gain an advantage I'm aware of.
 
I'd suggest not focusing on the discussion of what to use for 'spec' too much until we're sure that we can have a set of regular attendees actually interested in doing non-recommended list spec. Everytime I am in 'spec/shuffle' room that switches from shuffle to spec it starts losing people at a rate of 1-2 per race and very little new people come in until the room is back in a shuffle mode. So I'd say that for the first several weeks using just recommended garage is just fine.
 
True, but I would still consider it one of my own priorities. Having frequented many shuffle/spec rooms, I'm pretty well tired of the Rec list. To gather people it's fine, if a necessary evil. However I'm pretty biased towards 'Stock" cars, even to the point of loss at this point.
 
Well, I figured so. I just don't see that much difference between the way you would like to run it and what I suggested.

My apologies, I wasn't trying to say you were wrong, just explaining my thought process. I like your idea of the MX-5. 👍

I must say my replacement G27 is a breath of fresh air. I didn't realize how much I was compensating my driving style by being afraid of knocking the wheel off centre, not to mention I had turned the FFB down from 8 to 2 to try and avoid the problem to begin with and lost some feel for the car:crazy:

Just remember, your new G27 has the same defective part in it as your old one and will likely meet the same fate at some point. I recommend trying to avoid extreme steering inputs when possible. I'd also recommend turning on your "power steering" function in the GT5 wheel options, this "kills" the feedback when making extreme inputs. I don't have any evidence that "powering steering" will save it, but it's about the only thing you can really do.

I'd suggest not focusing on the discussion of what to use for 'spec' too much until we're sure that we can have a set of regular attendees actually interested in doing non-recommended list spec. Everytime I am in 'spec/shuffle' room that switches from shuffle to spec it starts losing people at a rate of 1-2 per race and very little new people come in until the room is back in a shuffle mode. So I'd say that for the first several weeks using just recommended garage is just fine.

This is the direction I've been going, for those exact reasons. Shuffle rooms fill up quick and stay full so starting with shuffle is a good way to get people there. I haven't had too many leave when we switch to the recommended garage but I'm aware that it can happen so I don't do more than one or two races before switching back to shuffle. Once we get a "following" we'll have more flexibility to try other things but for the time being I'm going to stick with what's getting people in the room and slowly try new things here and there. However, it's easy to get bored with shuffle/rec. garage so it's good to start thinking about other options now. 👍
 
I probably will be, sometime after 7pm EDT. I'll post here if/when I open a room.

How is your new wheel by the way? Are you going to give us the lowdown? I expected you to be raving by this point:crazy:
 
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