2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[meekrab]

Well I had high hopes for this race, door 18, bad Q lap put me 12th (people seemingly don't understand you need to leave a gap in quali, two drivers behind me tried to overtake in T1 ) but got punted to dead last on lap one in Dunlop. Caught up enough to get lunged or otherwise bumped without a penalty on just about every lap after that by the back half of the grid. Certainly not doing any more of this bumper cars nonsense.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

My first race today was in the second slot, and I was joined with @Kermit_2142. Unfortunately, a butchered qualifying had me starting dead last in 20th. Decided to treat it as a practice race and I finished 13th or 14th.

Now warmed up, I went into the next slot. I qualified 8th and started on mediums. The pit strategy I went with was 6M/7H. I normally drive with the roof cam but for the first lap, I used the bumper cam so I could have the rear view mirror and actually see any potential dive bombers. Thankfully, turn 1 was orderly for the most part but two cars nearby were taken out at Dunlop. I was 6th by lap 2. Other than a 0.5 second track cut penalty, the race went smoothly. I crossed the finish line in 4th but the player in 1st didn't use both tire compounds, so I gained a position. In any case, I'm glad I don't have to drive this car anymore tonight.

 

[Pigems]

Not a bad first night back, had some great races with some even better people tonight.

 

[The359]

First race back in months, dad some rust to shake off, little mistakes here and there in every race, but the pace was good and I was able to fight pretty well in the top-tier rooms. Qualifying seemed to be a struggle for a lot of the top guys, so I managed to start two races in the top 5, but I had one race with a big penalty for making a stupid mistake into the chicane, and another one where I accidentally put the wrong tire on during the pit stop. The battles for position were pretty great though, so a good return for me.

The best result was a 4th for good points, but of course, I had that race after I stopped streaming so I can't show that one at the moment. So here are the first three races, with some commentary.

 

[Rexracer702]

Very frustrating racing tonight. Gave it 2 tries. The second race was a mostly A/A+ room, with 3 or 4 B's, including me. Got out of the pits first for Q, and did a 51.1, which put me 3rd on the grid. Good start, relatively clean racing for 5 laps, pitted in 3rd after lap 5. Left front was hurt. I hate this car. Came out in
P20. Made a stupid error at T1, got loose, and almost lost it on cold tires. Cost some time. That was the end of my race. Everyone in the back half of the field seemed to be on a revenge mission against anyone who got close. I got booted, punted, pushed into the grass and the wall. Very agravating. Ended up finishing 12th for 85 points, but hey, I did get the CRB to add to my 99, so there's that.

 

[Kermit_2142]

Surprisingly fun race. Qualified 7/8th bagged a podium!!

Racing was pretty aggressive especially the first couple laps with the standing start. I don’t mind a bit of rubbing with cars like this as long as things don’t go too far and they didn’t seem too. I lucked out really on multiple people clearly getting annoying with each other and intent on battling to the death costing themselves positions in the process.
We all know that people will be taking advantage of the lack of penalties and the SR99 doesn’t mean anything but I would implore people who come across “one of them” to take a step back if your dealt a tough move. With longer stops and high tyre wear if your planned in your approach and don’t lose your head “those drivers” will find their Karma at some point and you will sail back past them with pit strategy, a tyre advantage, or just purely by them costing themselves time by doing what they do.
Happy exhibition season, Interlagos will be .... interesting... if nothing else

 

[Seth_Logan]

Yes, that is a blatant plea for people here to add me. PSN is in the signature and is the same as name here anyway.

I would like to add you to my friends list. I am also looking for people to compare times against. I'm a C rated driver. Can I contact you?

And for those who are also B-D rated and want to compare how well we are all progressing: my PSN is my username plus a 2

Cheers,

Seth

 

[D_Dragline]

This is me for Manu...

Group 3 Jag seems to be a bit off the pace at Interlagos. Will have to hope I keep out of trouble and it’s enough to keep me in the race.

 

[Pennyb12000]

Hi Seth
I am a d/s rated driver. I seem unable to get out of d category, I get close to the points required, but that last bit is tough.
I haven't been playing that long, but would like to compare as well as having a few friendly drivers to look out for when online.
My psn name is the same as here, with a UK at the end.

 

[dorkstar31]

This is me for Manu...

View attachment 994629

Group 3 Jag seems to be a bit off the pace at Interlagos. Will have to hope I keep out of trouble and it’s enough to keep me in the race.

Jag has the top time in my region. If you haven’t already go take a look at the replay of that time and see where you can improve. You can’t go wrong watching a replay of PX7-Deafsun. The dude is smooth and ultra fast. Good luck.

 

[foolsgold74]

I would like to add you to my friends list. I am also looking for people to compare times against. I'm a C rated driver. Can I contact you?

And for those who are also B-D rated and want to compare how well we are all progressing: my PSN is my username plus a 2

Cheers,

Seth

Cheers Seth,
that would be great. I'll look you up when I'm online later on

Terry

 

[D_Dragline]

Jag has the top time in my region. If you haven’t already go take a look at the replay of that time and see where you can improve. You can’t go wrong watching a replay of PX7-Deafsun. The dude is smooth and ultra fast. Good luck.

Interesting. Virtually all the top times in Asia are MR cars. Can I see the NA qualifying laps?

Update: As I recheck, the Asia top 10 consists of 3 WRX, 2 Ferraris, a Supra, a Mustang, a Lambo, an R.S.01 and an Atenza.

 

[das89ca]

Also in EMEA, there were 3 Jags in the top10 times yesterday when I last checked.

 

[MCL1974]

I would like to add you to my friends list. I am also looking for people to compare times against. I'm a C rated driver. Can I contact you?

And for those who are also B-D rated and want to compare how well we are all progressing: my PSN is my username plus a 2

Cheers,

Seth

friend request sent!

 

[D_Dragline]

Jag has the top time in my region. If you haven’t already go take a look at the replay of that time and see where you can improve. You can’t go wrong watching a replay of PX7-Deafsun. The dude is smooth and ultra fast. Good luck.

Also in EMEA, there were 3 Jags in the top10 times yesterday when I last checked.

My best so far is a 1:30.3xx Sounds like I can still find some time and be in the mix.

Things are looking up.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Logged on 10m before the 3rd slot, only to notice that GT sport had updated. No round one for me, nor overly concerned as neither the Yaris or Fuji is a strong suit.

 

[ZiggyS80]

This was my first time running in the Nations Cup and also my first time in an all A+ lobby for the first North America slot. It was pretty cool to see some really fast people from this community in my lobby. It was a mix of feeling like I made it and also that I don’t belong there.

I tried to position myself to pick up a tow in qualifying, but ended up compromising both attempts to finish well off my practice times and Q18.

Decent start, but a track limit penalty in traffic on lap 1 saw me shuffled to DFL. New mission was not to finish there. Had some good battles, but it was a combo of a rage quit, penalty, and 2 racers having to pit late for the right tires that got me to P16 at the line.

One and done, but excited to see this short season through. Aiming to be in the mid-pack at Maggiore.

 

[Pigems]

This was my first time running in the Nations Cup and also my first time in an all A+ lobby for the first North America slot. It was pretty cool to see some really fast people from this community in my lobby. It was a mix of feeling like I made it and also that I don’t belong there.

I tried to position myself to pick up a tow in qualifying, but ended up compromising both attempts to finish well off my practice times and Q18.

Decent start, but a track limit penalty in traffic on lap 1 saw me shuffled to DFL. New mission was not to finish there. Had some good battles, but it was a combo of a rage quit, penalty, and 2 racers having to pit late for the right tires that got me to P16 at the line.

One and done, but excited to see this short season through. Aiming to be in the mid-pack at Maggiore.

I was one of those racers!! I took the wrong tires on my pit stop in both of the first two races. I had a good run going in that second one too, started on Hard, but took Hards again on my first stop, after doing the exact opposite in the first race.

It’s always a pleasure to race with guys from GTP, hopefully we get to race with you more in the future.

 

[roamingbard13]

This was my first time running in the Nations Cup and also my first time in an all A+ lobby for the first North America slot. It was pretty cool to see some really fast people from this community in my lobby. It was a mix of feeling like I made it and also that I don’t belong there.

I tried to position myself to pick up a tow in qualifying, but ended up compromising both attempts to finish well off my practice times and Q18.

Decent start, but a track limit penalty in traffic on lap 1 saw me shuffled to DFL. New mission was not to finish there. Had some good battles, but it was a combo of a rage quit, penalty, and 2 racers having to pit late for the right tires that got me to P16 at the line.

One and done, but excited to see this short season through. Aiming to be in the mid-pack at Maggiore.

I had a bit of this feeling last night too.

I wasn't able to run until Slot 3, and was Door #2 in a 228 pt room (second split). I took a penalty in qualifying, jumped out and back in, and just missed getting a flyer in. I started P20, and ran a really solid race. I ended up finishing P7 for 172 points. Pretty good result, but it made me feel like I could compete for the win in a similar room so I went again.

This time -- Door #19 in the top split 308 point room. Completely unnecessary place for me, lol. I did have 4 teammates in the race with me, and got a decent flyer for me in to start P16. After a pretty clean race, I finished P15 for 141 points. It was a fun race despite the poor finish, but I either need to get faster or take advantage of the matchmaking early in the night to score meaningful points.

29 points less for a harder race. I get the complaints about the point system, haha. I might score more points at 45k DR than in the low 50s this season.

 

[Seth_Logan]

Hi Seth
I am a d/s rated driver. I seem unable to get out of d category, I get close to the points required, but that last bit is tough.
I haven't been playing that long, but would like to compare as well as having a few friendly drivers to look out for when online.
My psn name is the same as here, with a UK at the end.

Done! Nice to meet you. I'll be sure to practice a lot the next few weeks. Looking forward to racing you.

friend request sent!

And gladly accepted! Cheers. See you on track!

Cheers Seth,
that would be great. I'll look you up when I'm online later on

Terry

Done! See you at the track.

 

[barak181]

Like most people, last night was somewhat of a disaster. I had an online meeting scheduled during the races, so I did slots 1 & 4. I almost didn't do slot 4 because slot 1 was such a mess...

Slot 1, I qualy ok in P9. I swerve around P7 when he gets a slow start off the line just in time for the entire field in front of me to part like the Red Sea and reveal somebody at a dead stop right in front of me. I slam into him and get pushed back a good 5-6 spots. I then proceed to get divebombed and punted off the track three times in lap 1 - 100R, Dunlop and Netz. By the time I pull myself back onto the track after the last one, I'm so far behind P19 that I seriously considered quitting. I suck it up and push on. I did end up pushing so hard that I lost my back end twice in 100R on my final stint on both tire compounds, that didn't help my cause much. I did manage to close what was something like a 20 sec gap on P19 to gain back on spot for the finish but still likely tanked my DR. (I still haven't checked.)

Slot 4 was about the same. I get a better qualy time but start P12. After lots and lots of pushing, shoving, divebombing and punting I got sent back to P18 at one up, up to P6 another, pushed aside at Dunlop a couple times, pushed off at 13 another and finished where I started - P12.

The Fuji/Yaris combo made for some ok time trialing but man, it made for some crappy racing. What a frustrating night.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

I would like to add you to my friends list. I am also looking for people to compare times against. I'm a C rated driver. Can I contact you?

And for those who are also B-D rated and want to compare how well we are all progressing: my PSN is my username plus a 2

Cheers,

Seth

Hi Seth
I am a d/s rated driver. I seem unable to get out of d category, I get close to the points required, but that last bit is tough.
I haven't been playing that long, but would like to compare as well as having a few friendly drivers to look out for when online.
My psn name is the same as here, with a UK at the end.

friend request sent. My PSN is Resident_Knievel

 

[GTWolverine]

Had some fun races with @Jwptexas, @Pigems, @kevinddr, @Winnie847, and @roamingbard13 last night. Unfortunately I don't have quite the result to show for it, in spite of doing all 5 slots.

Slot 1: Started 14th after messing up both laps by running wide at the exit of the final turn, then made matters worse by following someone into cutting Turn 2 too much, leading to a 1s penalty and dropping me back a few positions. I recovered to a Top 10, and somehow set Fastest Lap in the process. I got 168 points, which I thought I could do better than, so I went for the 2nd slot...

Slot 2: Got screwed in qualifying because the 2 cars I was following both bailed at the horseshoe and caused me to crash into the back of them before they ghosted. I then made it worse by also bailing, thinking I'd be able to do another warmup lap before time ran out. NOPE! Started P20 as a result, but climbed up to P13 at the end. I felt like my 164 points could've been closer to 200 had I actually qualified, so again I went...

Slot 3: This time I screwed up my own qualifying by picking up a 1.5s corner cut penalty at T2. Knowing that my next flying lap would be ruined anyway because I wouldn't be fully up to speed due to serving the penalty on the front straight, I bailed and tried to do a quick out lap before time ran out. Of course that failed AGAIN, and I started dead last for the 2nd race in a row. This time I could only recover to 14th, which was only good for 150 points.

Slot 4: FINALLY set a qualifying time, which was good for 14th, but even with that better qualifying spot, I could only manage 13th at the end for 154 points. I figured since I could probably do better than that even if my next race started horribly wrong, I might as well try the final slot.

Slot 5: Set my quickest time of the night (and first time below 1:51.0), with a little bit of slipstream at the end of the lap, and started 9th. I decided to go with the same strategy I'd done for my previous 4 races, which was start on Hards and chase people down at the end on Mediums. This was probably a mistake, because I quickly lost the lead pack, and wasn't able to make up much ground on my later Medium stint, so I actually dropped spots and finished 11th. Had I started on Mediums, I probably could've at least kept in the slipstream of someone in the Top10 and finished better. Still, it did turn out to be my best result of the night with 173 points. I know it could've gone so much better though...

 

[Zorz]

Hello meme season. Karts, rallying and Spa in wet conditions? *screams internally*

My previous experience with karts was rather infuriating as I just couldn't get the hang of them. I also have practically no experience driving in wet conditions in this game, let alone racing in them. At least the rallying might be funny, but I only ever do daily races to regain SR after a bad FIA race so I have no idea how the recent rally combo played out. Also not sure what to make of that grid start in manufacturers. Is that a first, or just something they do extremely rarely?

I'm going full-on Mazda Atenza for this short season, primarily from testing random Gr.3 cars from manufacturers I haven't played before to find one I can sort of handle in the wet. It's probably not going to serve me well for a grid start, but meh. I guess I'll also find out how bad the Gr.4 Atenza is. (I believe @Famine dubbed it a "rotting dog wang" a few pages back? )

Yesterday's Nations at Fuji was nothing to write home about. Started P7, ended P7 for 117 points. I lost several positions early on after going a bit deep on turn 1 and getting stuck around the outside, followed by sliding wide through sector 3 and picking up a track limits penalty. An undercut to go 5M-8H with the longer pit stops helped me recover, although it was pretty much just a 25-minute slog stuck in traffic for the most part. Far, far better than the Yaris one-make at Sardegna though.

I definitely noticed the dirtier driving since the update, although I was also coming in with 83 SR after the previous Fuji race that handed out SR downs and penalties for simply existing. (I put the game down for a bit after that race from frustration, skipping the final Manufacturer round at Lago Maggiore.)

 

[GTWolverine]

Hello meme season. Karts, rallying and Spa in wet conditions? *screams internally*

My previous experience with karts was rather infuriating as I just couldn't get the hang of them. I also have practically no experience driving in wet conditions in this game, let alone racing in them. At least the rallying might be funny, but I only ever do daily races to regain SR after a bad FIA race so I have no idea how the recent rally combo played out. Also not sure what to make of that grid start in manufacturers. Is that a first, or just something they do extremely rarely?

I'm going full-on Mazda Atenza for this short season, primarily from testing random Gr.3 cars from manufacturers I haven't played before to find one I can sort of handle in the wet. It's probably not going to serve me well for a grid start, but meh. I guess I'll also find out how bad the Gr.4 Atenza is. (I believe @Famine dubbed it a "rotting dog wang" a few pages back? )

View attachment 994673

Yesterday's Nations at Fuji was nothing to write home about. Started P7, ended P7 for 117 points. I lost several positions early on after going a bit deep on turn 1 and getting stuck around the outside, followed by sliding wide through sector 3 and picking up a track limits penalty. An undercut to go 5M-8H with the longer pit stops helped me recover, although it was pretty much just a 25-minute slog stuck in traffic for the most part. Far, far better than the Yaris one-make at Sardegna though.

I definitely noticed the dirtier driving since the update, although I was also coming in with 83 SR after the previous Fuji race that handed out SR downs and penalties for simply existing. (I put the game down for a bit after that race from frustration, skipping the final Manufacturer round at Lago Maggiore.)

You forgot to include what's basically an oval Gr.1 race.

What driving setup are you using for the karts? I have to go back to using a controller instead of my G29, and drop the sensitivity down to -2 as well as turn on TCS. I'm still extremely competitive in spite of needing to rely on the assists.

 

[Seth_Logan]

Quick check: Manu round 5... Bathurst. Is it the the same dilema as Laguna Seca daily a few weeks ago? Quoting @Tidgney: "If you are good on saving tires an FF car will work, if not your better of picking another car because Pitloss time is too big". I have a feeling this race is all about being able to finish the race without pitting and saving tires as you go. I suck at saving tires...

It's important to me because it will influence my decision to go with either Renault (FF Megane, hate the Trophy) or something else.

Some background: my best time is 02:14,501and I think I can do low 15's during the race. For me that's very fast but I'm not spairing my wheels -5 (too the front) to do it and I am unsure if this is a no-stopper.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Seth

 

[das89ca]

-5 for an FF is extreme, you will not manage to finish the race. BB+5 is the only option in my view for FF.

 

[barak181]

Quick check: Manu round 5... Bathurst. Is it the the same dilema as Laguna Seca daily a few weeks ago? Quoting @Tidgney: "If you are good on saving tires an FF car will work, if not your better of picking another car because Pitloss time is too big". I have a feeling this race is all about being able to finish the race without pitting and saving tires as you go. I suck at saving tires...

It's important to me because it will influence my decision to go with either Renault (FF Megane, hate the Trophy) or something else.

Some background: my best time is 02:14,501and I think I can do low 14's during the race. For me that's very fast but I'm not spairing my wheels -5 (too the front) to do it and I am unsure if this is a no-stopper.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Seth

You're moving the BB in the wrong direction. You need to set it to the back to help save the front tires which wear extremely fast. It also helps with the understeer a bit.

 

[fehpat]

Hello!

Few things changed for me since my last post here.
I started my Twitch channel and livestreaming my races. My first FIA stream on Twitch couldn't have been better: pole-position AND race victory! My DR is "flying", now I reached my personal best.

In the last few months, I became faster as well. I completely left TCS behind, and changed to manual transmission.

Here is my highlights video from Saturday with quali lap, hope you like it!

 

[The359]

Jumping on board with Toyota, at least for this pre-season. Supra is nice, but I think the 86 will really help with the new pit stop times against a lot of the Gr4 field. It's no Megane or Alfa Romeo, but I can't not take an 86.