2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[HaydenFan69]

My earlier opinion about the Willow Nations combo stands; I like it. I know. I'm the only one. I do feel this is a case where having a wheel really helps because the car needs smooth minimal steering input to turn. Of course, dirty air will be an issue but this could be a combo where just keeping it on track will net a good result.

Based on my brief testing, brake bias doesn't help the rears much, if at all. Running softs more than ten laps and the rear will eventually begin drifting on its own on that super long right hander in sector 1 no matter how smooth you are.

Yes. I feel the car isn’t that difficult to drive at all. Drives very much like a junior formula car should. A bit lacking in grip, and a bit underpowered. If you drive too hard, I felt the front push more than the rear coming around.

Though, I like Willow Springs and would race a dump truck around there.

 

[Photodave219]

I am so relieved to find out the fidget-spinner mode is the default. This might be the most hilarious race in FIA history.

Yes. I feel the car isn’t that difficult to drive at all. Drives very much like a junior formula car should. A bit lacking in grip, and a bit underpowered. If you drive too hard, I felt the front push more than the rear coming around.

Though, I like Willow Springs and would race a dump truck around there.

My earlier opinion about the Willow Nations combo stands; I like it. I know. I'm the only one. I do feel this is a case where having a wheel really helps because the car needs smooth minimal steering input to turn. Of course, dirty air will be an issue but this could be a combo where just keeping it on track will net a good result.

Based on my brief testing, brake bias doesn't help the rears much, if at all. Running softs more than ten laps and the rear will eventually begin drifting on its own on that super long right hander in sector 1 no matter how smooth you are.

So the Physics difference in the RBjr in a Custom Race (as seen in the lowlight video above) and in FIA Free Practice is night and day. Hot lapping in free practice? No issues in Sweeper or Turn Nine. Downforce held the car in place, car didn't step out in the curves and didn't have the abysmal cluster that was my practice yesterday.

I don't think I magically became a better driver overnight, somehow there's a substantive difference between how the car behaves in a Custom Race vs the Free Practice.

 

[HaydenFan69]

@Photodave219, open a lobby. You can get the exact settings with the physics more close to what the FIA race will be. Make it private if you just want to hot lap with tire and fuel settings by yourself.

That little difference can make the difference for you. For the SF race I was thrown for a loop with how light the front end felt online compared to the Arcade mode.

 

[Winnie847]

would race a dump truck around there.

where do I sign up?

 

[HaydenFan69]

where do I sign up?

Feels like one to drive, so close enough.

 

[FastOldHippy]

Good luck today chaps and chapettes. I'm gonna go for it, hold on, clench my butt and hope for the best.

Is this the way to Willow Springs ?

 

[SUPRASTAR0003]

Word of advice, try not to go 1000kph off the track into the wilderness. Racing now underway in Oceania.

 

[D_Dragline]

Well, that was the most rage inducing experience I’ve ever had on GT but not for the reasons I expected.

Was in an A/B lobby, door 4. @Raptor013 was in the same lobby. Q7 with an initial banker lap because some peanut who had already left the track once decided to run me off on my next flying lap.

Made a mistake early in the race and tasted sand but proceeded to get my head down and had worked my way back up to p9. Then a guy who pitted on lap 6 took me out down the main straight. Just launched me sideways for no good reason. I remained reasonably zen (by my standards). Put my head down to try and retrieve my race and then my TV went black. Completely lost picture. I have had this happen intermittently before but never in FIA and it’s usually only for a second or two.

This time I didn’t get my screen back until I turned the TV off and back on again. By this time I had been disqualified for pausing too long. So obviously quit.

So disappointed because I had good pace and even after 2 big offs, top 5 was not out of the question. Might go again later just to prove to myself I can finish this race (assuming I can solve the TV picture loss issue).

 

[Raptor013]

Well, that was the most rage inducing experience I’ve ever had on GT but not for the reasons I expected.

Was in an A/B lobby, door 4. @Raptor013 was in the same lobby. Q7 with an initial banker lap because some peanut who had already left the track once decided to run me off on my next flying lap.

Made a mistake early in the race and tasted sand but proceeded to get my head down and had worked my way back up to p9. Then a guy who pitted on lap 6 took me out down the main straight. Just launched me sideways for no good reason. I remained reasonably zen (by my standards). Put my head down to try and retrieve my race and then my TV went black. Completely lost picture. I have had this happen intermittently before but never in FIA and it’s usually only for a second or two.

This time I didn’t get my screen back until I turned the TV off and back on again. By this time I had been disqualified for pausing too long. So obviously quit.

So disappointed because I had good pace and even after 2 big offs, top 5 was not out of the question. Might go again later just to prove to myself I can finish this race (assuming I can solve the TV picture loss issue).

I did wonder what happened to you.

Certainly was a pain in the butt race, I found the sand more times than I would have liked. Ended up in 12th a lap down (1 lap ahead of the guy who punted @D_Dragline in qualifying). The pole sitter ended up parking himself in the pits by lap 15 his race was going that badly.

Not sure I'll go again, as 82 points is the second highest score for me this season.

 

[FastOldHippy]

Slot 1 Oceania. I'm going to have to go again. Q5 and taken out by erratic stick drivers trying to pass where there is no room to pass twice in the first 3 laps. I rarely get lapped, not happy with 12th. Game should seperate wheel and stick users, wheel users can have a good race while stick drivers can smash each other as much as they like. Just saying .....

 

[Redneckchef]

Ran slot 1 Oceania as well. In a lobby with @LeGeNd-1 @Erebus_9 @pennanton and others.

A known troll was blocking and racing people in qualifying, but knowing him before this I got lucky when I was able to pass him at full speed into turn 1 on my flying lap and still start p5.

At the start I was on the outside and got my tires on the sand leaving room, but held it, only dropping back to p9. Some wobbles from others had me back up to p6 by lap 2 where I held station. An off by one of our GTP people got me to p5, where I promptly bottled by clipping the actual apex of the final turn at the end of lap 8 and spinning all the way down the front straight. P10 now and in damage control.

Tires are getting old and I pit end of 10 for Mediums. After pit stops cycle I am p11, but in for close racing. Nope. Tires just drop off and keep letting go in the corners for all sorts of reasons. Hateful mediums. By the time I drop to p14 the only guy behind is more than 12 seconds back so i pit for softs. If I'm tooling at the back like that at least it'll be on nice tires. I get back to p13 as the other driver bins it, but that was it.

Nothing flashy, 1 real mistake and that was about normal for the couple of times I tried to practice.

Good luck and watch those mediums. If you have good clean air and big gaps don't ignore the option of the 2 stop. Some people in my lobby did it to success.

Edit: Forgot to add congratulations to @LeGeNd-1 for his win! Nice job!

 

[pennanton]

Ran slot 1 Oceania as well. In a lobby with @LeGeNd-1 @Erebus_9 @pennanton and others.

A known troll was blocking and racing people in qualifying, but knowing him before this I got lucky when I was able to pass him at full speed into turn 1 on my flying lap and still start p5.

At the start I was on the outside and got my tires on the sand leaving room, but held it, only dropping back to p9. Some wobbles from others had me back up to p6 by lap 2 where I held station. An off by one of our GTP people got me to p5, where I promptly bottled by clipping the actual apex of the final turn at the end of lap 8 and spinning all the way down the front straight. P10 now and in damage control.

Tires are getting old and I pit end of 10 for Mediums. After pit stops cycle I am p11, but in for close racing. Nope. Tires just drop off and keep letting go in the corners for all sorts of reasons. Hateful mediums. By the time I drop to p14 the only guy behind is more than 12 seconds back so i pit for softs. If I'm tooling at the back like that at least it'll be on nice tires. I get back to p13 as the other driver bins it, but that was it.

Nothing flashy, 1 real mistake and that was about normal for the couple of times I tried to practice.

Good luck and watch those mediums. If you have good clean air and big gaps don't ignore the option of the 2 stop. Some people in my lobby did it to success.

Yeah I binned it and thought maybe I could run long on mediums, but after a certain point it just felt like the car wanted to pirouette despite 65-70% tyre left available on the rear left.

 

[Raptor013]

Yeah I binned it and thought maybe I could run long on mediums, but after a certain point it just felt like the car wanted to pirouette despite 65-70% tyre left available on the rear left.

Whoever decided to run this race on Sports tyres should be shot. These type of cars need Racing tyres, they could have done this with Racing Mediums and mandatory Racing Hards.

 

[Rangeraus]

Entered both slots tonight and disconnected from both of them

Only 16 people got to the matchmaking screen in top split in slot 2, it tells you there are obviously problems with the server but nothing gets done about it.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Slot 1 Oceania. I'm going to have to go again. Q5 and taken out by erratic stick drivers trying to pass where there is no room to pass twice in the first 3 laps. I rarely get lapped, not happy with 12th. Game should seperate wheel and stick users, wheel users can have a good race while stick drivers can smash each other as much as they like. Just saying .....

Please don't go down that road. There are plenty of people driving clean on controllers and plenty of dirty drivers on wheel. A proper penalty system to separate is far better than separation by control input.

 

[Raptor013]

Decided I'm going again for Slot 3, hoping I get a better result.

 

[D_Dragline]

Decided I'm going again for Slot 3, hoping I get a better result.

I think I will too. Probably see you in there. Good luck! Wave as you go past.

 

[Raptor013]

I think I will too. Probably see you in there. Good luck! Wave as you go past.

Hahaha. That's funny right there. I'm just hoping I can keep it on the racing surface this time.

 

[pennanton]

Whoever decided to run this race on Sports tyres should be shot. These type of cars need Racing tyres, they could have done this with Racing Mediums and mandatory Racing Hards.

Nah I don't mind it a bit after getting comfortable, working with the slip angles is fun. The problem is this game seems to have difference between slip and outright grip loss as like a switch. A drivable car one lap becomes useless the next.

 

[joetoml1n]

Please don't go down that road. There are plenty of people driving clean on controllers and plenty of dirty drivers on wheel. A proper penalty system to separate is far better than separation by control input.

Matchmaking SHOULD be weighted by equipment as well IMO. Look at any leading, fast paced, competitive online game and keyboard/mouse and controller are usually separated. Not by a hard block, as you don't want to alienate friends playing together, but it should be weighted towards matching people using the same equipment. This is because in varying situations one or other of the devices will give some kind of performance edge. In racing that could be outright pace, consistency, accuracy with steering or braking inputs due to the larger range of motion etc etc.

I also agree the penalty system needs an overhaul, but so does the matchmaking.

 

[watto79]

Matchmaking SHOULD be weighted by equipment as well IMO. Look at any leading, fast paced, competitive online game and keyboard/mouse and controller are usually separated. Not by a hard block, as you don't want to alienate friends playing together, but it should be weighted towards matching people using the same equipment. This is because in varying situations one or other of the devices will give some kind of performance edge. In racing that could be outright pace, consistency, accuracy with steering or braking inputs due to the larger range of motion etc etc.

I also agree the penalty system needs an overhaul, but so does the matchmaking.

Matchmaking should be weighted by ability. I don't see why control input would come into it. People have qualified for World Tour events on a controller. In terms of out right pace there is very little evidence to suggest a wheel is any faster. It can help with consistency and tyre wear, but that's about it.

Segregating the player base seems like a really bad idea with no benefit.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

YES BOYS !!! FIA WIN #7

Didn't do much practice because reading from all the comments here, I expected the car to handle like wet noodles and lots of trip to Narnia. Only did about 12 laps in lobby to test out the soft tyre wear. It's not too bad I thought. I still can't nail the last corner full throttle though so decided to just do a little lift for safety's sake.

Anyway, matching took a long while. I thought I got disconnected again but I got in after 3 mins or so. A couple people definitely didn't make it though, only 17 drivers in the room. Quali by myself, got 3rd and 0.2 secs off pole.

Now the start. Last race in the Toyota Cup I made up 4 places due to various people messing up their launch. Today it happened again 1st and 2nd both forgot their TC and I shot past into the lead before T1 Oh man, I can't tell you how refreshing it is to drive without dealing with dirty air. A pleb like me doesn't get to lead often.

From then it's just a matter of keeping the pace up and minimising mistakes. Pitted on lap 12 (S>M), the latest of the frontrunners because I don't want to deal with traffic and got back out in the lead. Unfortunately, the guy in 2nd passed me and I thought that was the lead lost. I was so busy thinking what could have been and almost binned it in the last corner on lap 18 Luckily managed to get it back on the road but lost 2 secs. Turns out, the guy who passed me was on 2 stop strat. He duly pitted on the last lap, and I won by 4 seconds. Phew!

I dunno why but the RB Jr just suits my driving style really. I tend to use minimal steering angle and I like adjusting the car behaviour more using brake/gas, so the slight oversteer is actually perfect for me. The lack of grip of the sport tyres also didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Dirty air is definitely bad though, especially because Willow is all medium-high speed corners.

Some tips:
- DON'T FORGET TO TURN ON TC FOR START !!!
- Rev the car during the grid parade. I got just enough fuel to cross the line while everyone else still had about 10% or so. That extra bit of weight reduction is easy laptime and also extends your tyre life.
- I used BB -1. Tried -5 to save the rears but it made the car too understeery.
- Controller steering sensitivity to -2. Even if you're on a wheel, this helps to reduce the twitchiness (yes, I know the in game description says it only affects controller, but I can definitely feel a difference). Give it a try.
- As mentioned above, don't feel like you have to nail the last corner full throttle everytime. Unless you're an alien, the risk vs reward ratio isn't worth it in my opinion. Do it for your last do or die lap in quali, but that's it.

Good luck all 👍

 

[Raptor013]

Well that could have been worse.

I managed to keep it on the race track in the race this time. Although wasn't able to set a lap in Qualifying after been pushed off track at the final turn on my first flying lap, and then hitting the kerb at that same corner on my second attempt sending me flying off the track (my own fault there.)

Managed to get to 14th by race end, although had no pace at all compared with the rest of the field which once again included @D_Dragline.

 

[D_Dragline]

Second try in Oceania 3rd slot. Door 14 in with @Raptor013 and @pennanton

Qualy was ok. Got clean air for all my laps and qualified 4th. Left about half a second on the track but even that would have only got me 2nd.

Turn 1 the car in front of me drove off the track and I followed like a brainless lemming. No major damage and recovered to enter turn 2 in about p7.
Then the fun started. The guy behind taps me as we get half way around the turn. No big deal, accidental because I carried a little less speed into the corner. But rather than lift a little bit and stay in line, he simply continued to push like I wasn’t there and spun me around. Off I go, into the sand and rejoin in p19 20 seconds behind the leader. Cue one of the best drives of my life. I made up place after place either through genuine overtakes (thanks @Raptor013 ) or cars driving off the road. Before I knew it I was in p6 right behind p5 and just in front of p7. I had also managed to complete 12 laps on the softs. I pitted lap 12, was in a groove on the softs and decided to take a punt and try and stay in clean air by using a 2 stop.

It worked a treat and by lap 22 I was in p3 with p4 5 seconds back. I threw on the mediums for a final lap and rejoined in p6 with p4 and p5 about 2 seconds in front and Pennanton about 4 seconds behind me. I drove conservatively in n the cold mediums to bring it home without further incident. P6, 135 points and proved to myself I could take the combo.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Look at any leading, fast paced, competitive online game and keyboard/mouse and controller are usually separated.

In FPS yes. That's because the controller is a long way behind the Mouse/Keyboard configuration and there's no way a controller can keep up.
That is not the case in a racing game. Here the wheel is mostly just immersion. Granted, the immersion might be what compelled people to practice more and this getting better but there's plenty of fast controller guys that run circles around most wheel users.

 

[stpatty]

Feels like one to drive, so close enough.

View attachment 1014510

First of all, how dare you.

 

[barak181]

Well, that was the most rage inducing experience I’ve ever had on GT but not for the reasons I expected.

Was in an A/B lobby, door 4. @Raptor013 was in the same lobby. Q7 with an initial banker lap because some peanut who had already left the track once decided to run me off on my next flying lap.

Made a mistake early in the race and tasted sand but proceeded to get my head down and had worked my way back up to p9. Then a guy who pitted on lap 6 took me out down the main straight. Just launched me sideways for no good reason. I remained reasonably zen (by my standards). Put my head down to try and retrieve my race and then my TV went black. Completely lost picture. I have had this happen intermittently before but never in FIA and it’s usually only for a second or two.

This time I didn’t get my screen back until I turned the TV off and back on again. By this time I had been disqualified for pausing too long. So obviously quit.

So disappointed because I had good pace and even after 2 big offs, top 5 was not out of the question. Might go again later just to prove to myself I can finish this race (assuming I can solve the TV picture loss issue).

The most obvious steps would be to swap out the hdmi cable and try a different port on the tv. Does it only happen with the PS4?

 

[D_Dragline]

The most obvious steps would be to swap out the hdmi cable and try a different port on the tv. Does it only happen with the PS4?

Yes. I’ve all but confirmed it’s caused by the HDCP causing my television to lose signal. I had turned it (HDCP) off, but have recently been streaming Spotify to the PS4. It is, quite frankly, an absolutely pathetic bug for the PS4 Pro to still have this long after it was introduced.

 

[barak181]

Yes. I’ve all but confirmed it’s caused by the HDCP causing my television to lose signal. I had turned it (HDCP) off, but have recently been streaming Spotify to the PS4. It is, quite frankly, an absolutely pathetic bug for the PS4 Pro to still have this long after it was introduced.

So do you think it's Spotify that's triggering it? Also, have you tried a hdmi splitter? That can be a workaround to HDCP sometimes.

 

[D_Dragline]

So do you think it's Spotify that's triggering it? Also, have you tried a hdmi splitter? That can be a workaround to HDCP sometimes.

Probably not for this thread, but it’s not Spotify specific. If I turn off HDCP I don’t get the dropouts. But, of course, I can’t play Spotify with HDCP turned off.

Haven’t tried a splitter. I run my PS4 Pro through a soundbar