Feedback on race setup.

I'd like to hear opinions on a particular race configuration. The idea may not appeal to all, but if some are willing to give it a try and give their impressions of the value of the idea, I'd appreciate the feedback.

The idea is to try to simulate more of what an actual race would be like, and the set-up is based on the premise that any race should be as hard as possible to finish on the podium, let alone win. The driver should have to make some decisions based on the positions and pit strategy of the other cars, like how hard to drive and still preserve the tires and fuel.

The race distance is right at 100 miles, which would be considered something of a sprint in the real world.

You'll see that the different cars specified for the race are re-configured in their power and weight settings. This is to make each car have a weight to power ratio of 3.03 kg per horsepower.

So if anyone is interested, here are the specifications and the set-up:

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That’s Racin’ Series Example

Set-up:

At main GT4 screen, select options, arcade, then set laps to 45, tire wear to STRONG, the others to NONE. Then exit.

Select arcade, single race, ORIGINAL circuits, MIDFIELD Raceway, NORMAL direction.

Select one of the following cars, and refer to the HP and WT settings for the car selected for its specific quick tune-up settings:

BMW M3 GTR race car 355 hp / 1075 kg = POWER –20 / WEIGHT –4
Mercedes CLK touring car 363 hp / 1100 kg = POWER –18 / WEIGHT +10
Audi TT-R touring car 371 hp / 1123 kg = POWER –20 / WEIGHT +4
Opel Calibra touring car 340 hp / 1029 kg = POWER –19 / WEIGHT –1
Opel Astra touring car 363 hp / 1100 kg = POWER –20 / WEIGHT +10
Alfa 155 touring car 330 hp / 999 kg = POWER –20 / WEIGHT –1

If in doubt, all the above cars are race cars.

On the driving options, select your gearbox, driving aids to NONE, select RACING MEDIUM tires, set difficulty to plus 9.

Then when the field listing appears, select QUICK TUNE-UP and set the POWER and WEIGHT to the settings for the car you have selected as shown above.

Change the tires to RACING HARD. (This only changes the tires on your car).

Enter the race, which should be worth 200 points.

Your concern will be when to pit.

Then note the winning car, and your position and time behind if you don’t win. Note anything else of interest.

Feedback is appreciated.

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Thanks,

Tazio

Hiya Tazio:
Looks like a good idea with two exceptions:
#1 If you move it in the Spot Races and Lap Time Comparisons Forum you'll most likely find more "Viewers."
#2 By specifying NO Driving Aids you've immediately reduced the number of intrants. JMO...O.G.

Nuvolari-

Just came across this post & thought I'd give this a try...

* Picked the BMW M3 GTR
* Made the necessary configuration changes, as outlined
* Other cars on grid were:
- Ford GT LM Race Car
- Lister Storm
- Jaguar XJ220
- Chevy Camaro Race Car
- Ford Falcon XR8 Race Car

* All cars but mine were over 400hp
* Started last of course!
* Was in 1st place by lap 3 (Go figure!)
* Took first pit stop on lap 15; Came out in 2nd position by 8+ seconds to the XJ220
* By lap 18, was back in 1st place (XJ220 pitted at this time) by over 12sec.
* Pitted once again on lap 28; Had a brief run-in with sand in the up-hill chicane section on lap 27 (Sorry, can't remember what turns those are) that probably added some additional tire wear, as I was hoping to get to at least lap 30 before pitting again.
* Came out of pit back in 2nd place to the Ford GT LM by about 8seconds.
* Ford GT LM pitted the very next lap; went back into 1st by over 13 seconds
* Pitted once again on lap 39; came out back in 2nd place & down by 9+ seconds to XJ220
* XJ220 pitted the next lap, giving me a comfortable 11sec. advantage, that I pretty much held-up to the end of the race!

Comments: While it was fun & exciting trying to figure out when the AI would pit and then determining my race strategy around that, I just don't feel like I should have won in this particular car.

I'll give the other cars a try tomorrow...if time permits!

SimRaceDriver

SimRaceDriver

Nuvolari-

Just came across this post & thought I'd give this a try...

Comments: While it was fun & exciting trying to figure out when the AI would pit and then determining my race strategy around that, I just don't feel like I should have won in this particular car.

I'll give the other cars a try tomorrow...if time permits!

SimRaceDriver

Click to expand...

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Very good job, SRD. I think you’re wrong about your winning in the underdog-setup BMW. You drove well and were smart with your tires.

My initial test of this race was of course, a check out what the other cars would do, and I’d thought I’d try the one stop only strategy, which wasn’t smart. I suffered badly through the last five or six laps before pitting on lap 23, and then the same thing happened again when my tires were so bad four or five laps from the finish and the car became undriveable, and I got my doors blowed by the the Jag and I think the Ford GT (Elf colors) in that one.

My second run was with a pit strategy for two stops, and I had the exact same field of cars as you. I went to lap 17 before pitting, to see what the others would do. Like you I had the lead on lap 3. which was a surprise with me on hard tires and them on mediums, and the Beemer so down on power. Then the Ford GT and the XJ220 got by without too much of a fight by me. After they pitted I again had the lead and held it to lap 17 when I pulled in. As I exited the pits the Ford came by and then had a 2 plus second lead. He got it up to about 6 seconds as I was getting the tires heated up. Then he made some kind of mistake and I got back by, and pulled it out some on him. He pitted and I had a pretty comfortable lead. So then I ran pretty hard and watched his times after he came out of the pits. I had about 30 seconds on him, and was holding it pretty well, and then my tires started to give up just a little, and he started closing on me. I set my plan for pitting dependent on when he go to within 26 seconds, and this ended up being on lap 33, so I pulled in. I got out still in the lead, and shortly after, the Ford did his last stop, so I felt secure that he wasn’t going to catch back up.

But then the XJ220 appeared, near the end, and he got to within maybe 6 seconds of me before he then pitted for his last stop. I then put in cruise and paid attention to the tires and just ran at about 80%.

At the finish I had 23 or 24 seconds on the Ford, and finished comfortably with a race time of 55’56.580”.

So my questions for you, SRD, are about whether you felt like this race was able to demand most of your attention for the whole 45 laps, and did you feel you had to carefully think it through over most of the way? How would you compare running in this race with other races that you felt were as or more interesting, and had something of the underdog factor?

Thanks again for your feedback?

Tazio

(Just for anyone else, the power / weight settings on the BMW would be -20 / -4, or 355hp / 1075kg.)

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I'm getting the impression that this race may be set up just a little too easy. So for you, SRD, and any others, would you adjust the difficulty up from 9 to 10, or increase the weight to power ratio from the 3.03 to a higher ratio, or do something else?

This idea is also posted at the place O.G. recommended.

Thanks, O.G.

I 'might' have time to try this again later today but I can't make any promises as some recent family issues have come to my attention that need to be addressed...however if I have some free time today in between getting what needs to be done before a trip I'm taking this weeked, I'll be more then happy to.

As for the race itself...once I obtained the lead, the only thing that kept my mind in the game was how much of a lead I could get on the 2nd place car, in order to hopefully maintain the lead after pitting...or at least not be that far behind when I did....

Other then that, it was a fairly easy race. I knew I would have to pit at least 2 times..maybe even three...and after the first pit stop, I knew almost instantly I was going to have to come in two more times, but knowing that the AI would probably have to do the same, it came down to knowing 'when to pit' vs the AI...

My initial strategy was to try and go longer then the AI before pitting, especially if I had the lead. Why? Because the longer the AI was in the pit (Or at least the 2nd & 3rd place cars) the more of a lead I could build up so when I pitted at the end of that very same lap that the AI pitted on, I could either keep my lead or be very close to the 1st place car!

Gas was also not an issue really, as I was able to hold on until my 2nd pit stop, where I only tossed in about 1/3 of a tank and was able to go the rest of the way & finish the race. Hopefully the other cars that I'll hopefully test with get about the same gas mileage... :-)


SimRaceDriver

Nuvolari

I'm getting the impression that this race may be set up just a little too easy. So for you, SRD, and any others, would you adjust the difficulty up from 9 to 10, or increase the weight to power ratio from the 3.03 to a higher ratio, or do something else?

Click to expand...

I would probably first up the difficulity to 10, though it's just one (1) click, it 'might' make a more significant difference. Then, if that didn't help to make the race more interesting, I'd probably add some weight to the car, as in real life events when a car has to be handicaped for whatever reason...and then just keep adding weight if needed.

SimRaceDriver

I think I agree with all that on the next step to make it more interesting. I'll try the difficulty at 10 and see how that goes.

One note: I never took on any fuel and it wasn't an issue.

Thanks,

Tazio

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Here’s some slightly modified settings recommendations for the BMW:

Set difficulty to +10
Set power / weight to –9 / -4, should be 403hp / 1075kg.
Plan on making 3 stops minimum (as if it is a rule).
You must get some fuel in, but only a little, sometime.
Otherwise the same tires setup, etc,

See how much fun you have running with the Nissan GT-R concept LM ’02 car.

Tazio

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Update on "That's Racin'" series:

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That’s Racin’ Series Updated:

Set-up:

At main GT4 screen, select options, arcade, then set number of laps as noted for the tracks listed below, tire wear to STRONG, the others to NONE. Then exit.

Select arcade, single race, circuit group for the circuit selected, The circuit of choice, NORMAL direction.

Circuits and race distances:

Midfield 45 laps
Infineon Sports 40 laps
El Capitan 34 laps
Route 5 43 laps
Trial Mountain 41 laps
Grand Valley Speedway 33 laps
Deep Forest 45 laps
Apricot Hill 42 laps
Tokyo 246 32 laps
The Nurburgring 8 laps
Monaco, Cote d’Azur 48 laps
Le Mans, de la Sarthe I 12 laps

Each race distance should be right at 100 miles or 161 kilometers.

Select one of the following cars, and refer to the HP and WT settings for the car selected for its specific quick tune-up settings:

BMW M3 GTR race car 403 hp / 1075 kg = POWER –9 / WEIGHT –4
Mercedes CLK touring car 402 hp / 1070 kg = POWER –9 / WEIGHT +7
Audi TT-R touring car 402 hp / 1069 kg = POWER –13 / WEIGHT –1
Opel Calibra touring car 402 hp / 1071 kg = POWER –4 / WEIGHT +3
Opel Astra touring car 403 hp / 1070 kg = POWER –11 / WEIGHT +7
Alfa 155 touring car 404 hp / 1080 kg = POWER –2 / WEIGHT +6

If in doubt, all the above cars are race cars.

On the driving options, select your gearbox, driving aids to NONE, select RACING MEDIUM tires, set difficulty to plus 10.

Then when the field listing appears, select QUICK TUNE-UP and set the POWER and WEIGHT to the settings for the car you have selected as shown above.

Change the tires to RACING HARD. (This only changes the tires on your car).

Enter the race, which should be worth 200 points.

You must pit at least three times during the race. You must get tires, or fuel, or both at each stop.

Note: I prefer to drive as if all the other cars deserve the respect I would want, so a polite nudge on occasion is not out of the question, but the driving technique I try to use is one reflecting the notion that I have $750,000 at least in my equipment and all of my colleagues have at least as much in theirs too.

Then note the winning car, and anything else of interest.

If you like, consider the points system to be the same as Formula 1, meaning:

1st place 10 points
2nd 8
3rd 6
4th 5
5th 4
6th 3

Feedback is appreciated.

Tazio

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One thing I forgot about mentioning is that the idea behind this is for drivers to do it all completely on their own with no time submissions or anything like that. Drivers could keep track of the results of all or whatever races they elect to do, including the finishing positions and points earned by the other cars, and they can consider it some kind of championship series or whatever, but just for themselves. After all, there should be a fair enough amount of racing involved in the competition itself.

Racers have always had nearly as much fun swapping stories about this race or that where interesting or funny things have happened that they like to talk about, and this might provide some opportunity for those types of stories.

Otherwise, although most of the races are too long to be fully recorded for replay, enough is recorded that it might make the replays well worth watching, more so than the typical replays.

So try it if you think it’s worth the time and effort. It might be something new for those of you who are interested.

Hey Nuvolari-

Just wanted to let you know I've not forgotten about this....I'm just a little tied up right now taking care of some personal 'stuff'...should have the free time (hopefully) by the end of next week!

I'll post back once I've completed one or two races!


SimRaceDriver:

SimRaceDriver

Hey Nuvolari-

Just wanted to let you know I've not forgotten about this....I'm just a little tied up right now taking care of some personal 'stuff'...should have the free time (hopefully) by the end of next week!

I'll post back once I've completed one or two races!


SimRaceDriver:

Click to expand...

I ran Monaco last night (48 laps). Not too difficult, but I got a little lazy when I pulled out a little time and my tires started to get hot. The Nissan was coming and I had to wait until the right time to stop. Finished okay but he never let up.

I have assigned a four pit stop requirement (for myself at least) for Monaco.

I've run the Nordschleife (8 laps) and it was close, problem being the long straight and the reduced power of the BMW. Three stops there and barely able to stay ahead of the Nissan at the finish.

By the way, I'm working on the setup for the F1 car, using the same basic configuration of race, but with the power at -20, weight at +3, and tires hard for all cars. Difficulty with that car can only be set to +1 instead of +10, and I'm afraid it's much easier racing than it should be. The (arcade) F1 car is a handful at the N'ring since you can't adjust the spring rates, ride height, etc, so that will make it interesting. I'll plan to run the F1 races all at 200 miles each. And it's nice to be able to pick lots of different livery for the car in arcade.

Let me know how it goes.

Tazio

On second thought, I'll have to think about how to do 200 miles at other than the N'ring and Le Mans. Hmm...... Maybe two heats and a final?

That setup for the F1 car is not enough to make it interesting, SRD. I'll have to add more weight and try some more testing. I'm thinking the touring car series is gonna be more interesting. But---de-tuned---the F1 is fine at the N'ring.

What's goin' on with this? You guys still working out on these tough race setups?
This was a really interesting thread, as I hadn't even realised you could make some of those settings. I'd jump in on your game, but I'm not far enough along to have the cars your using.

Just for kicks I tried it out with the Tom's Supra.
Though I think talking about my experience (all one of them) would kind of be hijacking your thread.... I'll put something in the Diaries Forum....

Thanks for the inspiration, hope you're still given' 'em 'ell.