2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[DK]

I went in with just 15 minutes of practice in the RS01, just to do a race sim on the Softs. I had to back out of my first hot lap after getting tangled up at the hairpin with a British Porsche, but I still managed to squeeze a 9th out of it, albeit 1.1s off the polesitting F1 GTR, and 0.5s off P8.

I started on Softs, and thankfully I managed to escape whatever chaos ensured at T1 that resulted in at least 2 guys quitting. P9 became P8, and then P7 as two cars spun out at the hairpin on Lap 1 and Lap 2. A tangle between a Jag and a GT-R at T1 on L4 brought me (and a Russian Porsche) into the fight for 5th. I was 5th when I pitted at the end of L8, taking on Mediums and no extra fuel, and subsequently dropped to 9th. That became 8th thanks to yet another spinner, although things got tense on L11 as I almost got squeezed off the road and briefly dropped to 10th, before the tryhard who squeezed me missed his braking for T4 and spun out on the gravel between T4 & T5. P8 (the aforementioned Russian Porsche) had to take evasive action, messing up his exit from T5, allowing me to catch up, slipstream him down the back straight and dive down the inside to reclaim 8th at the hairpin. Unfortunately, I couldn't shake him, and he was all too happy to bump-draft me until the end of L12, when he had a much better run than me down the main straight, and I could only watch him sail past before the end of the pit wall. I just couldn't keep up afterwards, and dropped out of the slipstream, trundling home in 9th for 140pts and 258DR. I'm just glad that I was able to get a handle on rear tyre wear and block Binotto's calls.

 

[Hasnain282]

Ended up in the same lobby as @Ashthebash and @Lost Sheltie but unfortunately it didn't go well for any of us, in my case I lost the slip early on and when I got back into it I botched an overtake and then to just sum the race I was pushed off on the last corner on the last lap

 

[cactus0]

Has anyone completed the first lap today without being smashed into a wall? What's it like? It must be nice...

Anyway, was seeing family today so got on for the third slot, qualified 7th but had a messy race, kept clipping walls and finished 11th.
Fourth slot qualified 3rd, was 15th by the end of lap one because I am a brake apparently, ran some good clean laps and got some overtakes done to be 9th after the pit stop shuffle, got past 7th and then had a ding-dong battle with a South African in a Nissan, he would get it done into turn one, then I would get it back on the first hairpin (including on one lap going round the outside!) final lap he just got far enough ahead to keep the lead so...

Overall it's been a fun season, I have scored loads more points than ever before (about 210) and I feel I was way more consistent than previously.

I like both the Lexus (Lexi?) both are easy to drive, great on tyres and fuel and very stable (even Laguna Seca's sausage kerbs couldn't throw the g4 off it's game). I reckon it would fair really well as a manufacturer if all rounds counted, because they're good everywhere, without being outstanding anywhere.

I'm also no longer scared of Curcuit de la Sarthe, and I'm not AS scared of the Nordschleife!

It's also been great to meet some fellow forum members on the track @Seth_Logan @Photodave219 @LVS_1986 @xxPinkyKissxx @MidnightRun85

Time to go and pore over the next set of races!

 

[MidnightRun85]

Has anyone completed the first lap today without being smashed into a wall? What's it like? It must be nice...

Anyway, was seeing family today so got on for the third slot, qualified 7th but had a messy race, kept clipping walls and finished 11th.
Fourth slot qualified 3rd, was 15th by the end of lap one because I am a brake apparently, ran some good clean laps and got some overtakes done to be 9th after the pit stop shuffle, got past 7th and then had a ding-dong battle with a South African in a Nissan, he would get it done into turn one, then I would get it back on the first hairpin (including on one lap going round the outside!) final lap he just got far enough ahead to keep the lead so...
View attachment 1062788

Overall it's been a fun season, I have scored loads more points than ever before (about 210) and I feel I was way more consistent than previously.

I like both the Lexus (Lexi?) both are easy to drive, great on tyres and fuel and very stable (even Laguna Seca's sausage kerbs couldn't throw the g4 off it's game). I reckon it would fair really well as a manufacturer if all rounds counted, because they're good everywhere, without being outstanding anywhere.

I'm also no longer scared of Curcuit de la Sarthe, and I'm not AS scared of the Nordschleife!

It's also been great to meet some fellow forum members on the track @Seth_Logan @Photodave219 @LVS_1986 @xxPinkyKissxx @MidnightRun85

Time to go and pore over the next set of races!

Were we in the 17:40 slot together?

 

[cactus0]

Were we in the 17:40 slot together?

I don't think so, we were in a lobby practice race before I'm sure...

Edit - for one of the earlier rounds

 

[cactus0]

Finally sussed out where the Manu rankings had gone! They don't hang about archiving them!

 

[MetaBrain]

Door 17
Q10
P16

Not much to say. Didnt practice much and had to learn this track from scrarch yesterday. Surprisingly yoday I had great consistent pace on last 10 laps. But first 5 were a disgrace. Got span once but yeah, it was 18 positions and managed to grab back 3 after going PLast on lap 3.

But happy since it replaced my previous 4th worse score (17py) eith 41pt (good lobby, I am B DR and used to be C DR)

 

[MidnightRun85]

I don't think so, we were in a lobby practice race before I'm sure...

Edit - for one of the earlier rounds

I didn't do any lobby practice races... 🤔

 

[cactus0]

I didn't do any lobby practice races... 🤔

May be mistaken identity then, sorry, I barely know what I was doing yesterday! Hopefully see you on track soon 🙃

 

[Ashthebash]

Ended up in the same lobby as @Ashthebash and @Lost Sheltie but unfortunately it didn't go well for any of us, in my case I lost the slip early on and when I got back into it I botched an overtake and then to just sum the race I was pushed off on the last corner on the last lap
View attachment 1062784View attachment 1062785View attachment 1062786

I'd just like to highlight at the very bottom of those images, me stealing the fastest lap on the final lap! 😆

But yeah less said about that race the better! After that disaster I did something I haven't done all season in Manufacturers and went again, with much better results which I'll report on a little later

 

[05XR8]

Just getting in paid off. Not bad for a 50yo. 😁✌️

Can't wait to get back in the Mustang. Although, I did see Gr.4 DTG II is fuel/tyre wear 10x/10x. Going to be a tough season in Gr.4.

 

[stpatty]

Long one coming up

My DR has been going up this season and I've been getting closer and closer to getting a 200 point result. Being in a GT-R at Sardegna A in the final round I was hopeful, and I'd been practicing this for a few weeks. I wasn't really happy with the consistency of my runs and my practicing today was a bit spotty, but I beat some A+ drivers in lobbies today so I knew I could be around the front depending on what cars turned up.

First race looked like this:

Strongest lobby I've ever been in. I went out in qualifying and was going slowly on my outlap but was still right behind that Aston at #1, who was then weaving about trying to break slipstream. I ended up starting 6th and started on mediums. This would have been fine but then on lap 2 the Aston at #18 shovelled past me at the church and then I got stuck around some other cars so my undercut pitting on lap 6 did nothing. I ended up behind the McLaren for the last few laps and made a nice pass on him through the final sector to finish 4th and get 209 points:

209 points and I had decided quite early in the race that I didn't care what happened, I was going again. The winning time (#20, no less) was about a second away from my mistake-filled practices so I definitely felt able to do better.

I had help in qualifying from an Aston who was driven by an actual sensible person this time, and after we'd finished our laps we were 2nd and 3rd. I sent him a PSN message telling him to start on softs and run, by the time I was back in the game he was 3rd and I was 5th behind another GT-R. At turn 1 the GT-R sort of didn't defend and sort of didn't take the normal line and I started drifting up the inside, then I got a bump from a Porsche behind who got a 1 second penalty. At the left/right before the church the GT-R then shovelled me out of the way. He stayed ahead of me until the final kink going on to the straight where he went wide, and I took 4th place back. The top 3 have ****ed off by this point.

On lap 2 the GT-R goes into the back of me at the church then shoves me going up the inside while I'm trying to slow the car to make the corner. He had a bad exit from the hairpin at the end of the back straight and I snuck up the right of him. A Mercedes tried to take him before the chicane but he didn't back out so they went through it side by side, and stunningly the guy still didn't spin. Fortunately this is the last dealings I had with the Nissan, but the Mercedes will come back into play.

I hadn't done much practice starting on softs but by around lap 8 the gap to the Hyundai behind was starting to go down rather than up so I pitted, he stayed out a lap later. I got the place back by really committing to turn 1, and I stayed ahead of him and the Mercedes for a few laps. I've no idea what lap it happened on but they both got past me into turn 1, the Mercedes was a bit clumsy and the Nissan behind was starting to look a bit close as we were fighting. Eventually I got past the Mercedes again (I'm typing this up without the replay to hand and I genuinely have no idea where I passed him) and I was trying to chase the slipstream from the Hyundai ahead.

I knew I was losing a lot of time to the Hyundai on traction out of corners - he seemed to be faster than me on mediums after I'd been gapping him on softs. By the time we were on the last lap I was trying to get slipstream at the expense of everything else and did along the top straight. After the chicane though a weird thing happened, a Porsche that had been fighting at the front pulled off and started going slowly, eventually he let everyone past and finished last. I'd assume someone from another region but their connection didn't seem that bad. Either way I'm now fighting for 3rd rather than 4th, and 3rd is the final 200 point place.

I got a run on the Hyundai out of the last corner but the straights at Sardegna aren't really long enough for an overlap until you're right on the braking zone, so I needed to be perfect. Despite this I shat it and shifted at 155 rather than 158 worried I'd be going a bit faster with the tow, but I don't think I needed it. I'll show you four pictures in lieu of describing the run to the line as I pulled out:

That final picture is taken as close to in line with the Sardegna barrier above the track as I could get. The line on track is faint but it's in line with the exhaust at the side of my car you can see there. Anyone got any ideas? I've seen discussion about this on here before but everything about my car - the nose, the front wheel, the door pillar, the driver, every part of it is behind the Hyundai.

Still, I ended up with 200 points after all:

Ironically I probably had a better chance to win the stronger lobby, but here's my highest ever score. It's a mark of how precarious success in this game can be that after about the halfway point of the first race I didn't care about reaching 200 points. My DR is now at 48.5k and I'm going to do some races at St. Croix next week in the dailies so I might yet reach A+, but right now I'm not as delirious about this score as I thought I'd be. Maybe it'll sink in tomorrow.

Other tip: If you start near the front, start on softs. If you get passed by too many cars you won't get any benefit from an undercut.

 

[mobilmasher]

Ran the first slot, had @Trone_Colby in the lobby along with like eight other people I've raced with on a regular basis.
Door #2, Q'd 3rd, Finished 2nd for 133 pts and made "A" ranking for the 3rd time in my career.
Race started great, @ClydeSatou had pole and maintained the lead thru turn 1. Second place slid and I got by to put me in 2nd. @shifter125cc caught up to me and we swapped places a few times due to each other's mistakes, fun clean racing. Pitted lap 7 and put on softs, came out in 11th. Cycled back up to 2nd after the pit cycle and maintained that position until the finish. Overall a great and enjoyable race and season. The majority of the people I've raced with have been clean making it the kind of season I thoroughly enjoy. Looking forward to next season and trying to maintain my "A" with a lot of close, clean racing.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Well. I got no training in for Sardegna and spent yesterday gettin drunk so I wasn't very prepared.
I had door #9, and qualified with no slip as p16 so I started on mediums.
Having no idea how long I could go on softs I decided to pit on L7. Finished as p9 after having had a great duel with a Spanish driver in a Supra for the last two laps. Luckily for me it ended up by his car doing Supra things and slide into the wall as he excited the second to last corner on the last lap.

With the points from the race I gained 14 spots .and are looking forward to the remaining part of the season.

 

[Try_Rebooting]

My best season so far.

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Ran slot 2 - NA region using the Polyphony Digital Ford Mustang.

Split room with 8 SR B, 8 SR C, and 4 of us SR D racers. Was moved/braked/blocked a few times during qualifying but that apparently is the way it is done now.

Q12, P9 finish for 416 DR (who cares), back up to 99 SR (from 82) - Yeah!

L1T1 went from P12 to P18 with a trip into the gravel thanks to a friendly racer who obviously deserved my position more than me. Remaining of the race went well. No CRB?? Not sure why, no Orange down checks (I believe all Green up checks - will watch replay to make sure) or major wall collisions. Oh well maybe next race I can get that goal completed.

I had a few good inner races at times for positions but mainly advanced due to others over-driving (in my opinion). Fast cars take longer to brake - some people must learn that. When you hit the wall and ghost out you cannot affect my racing until you unghost - some need to learn that too. What a dirty trick!

Tires went 10M/5S due to mid pack starting position which I thought was best way to go.

I will edit and post the video tomorrow so you all can see how us bottom dwellers race - overall a very good and fun race.

Enjoy your racing!

The Beast used:

The final result:

The race:

 

[Famine]

No CRB?? Not sure why

a trip into the gravel

That'd do it.

Not sure why, but I was muy slow in the RX-Vision - something like 2s off pole, and around 0.8s off 2nd to qualify 18th. Car seemed to suck in Church, Piaggio, and the left-handed kink before the final hairpin - or at least that's where I lost most time to others.

Finished... I don't know, 13th maybe? 5M/10S strategy seemed to work well, and I only got overtaken by one car after my stop.

 

[Ashthebash]

Well, @Hasnain282 kind of covered the first race, that was a mess! So for the first time this Manufacturers season I went again, and found myself once again in with @Lost Sheltie

Qualified well, 39.4 putting me 3rd, just 0.055 off the Jag on pole, and giving me a huge dilemma as to what tyres to pick. Such a big dilemma that with 13s of the 60 we get between qualy and the race remaining and seeing the top three were almost half a second quicker than the rest I decided to switch from mediums to softs, not knowing that the 60s we get is in all reality 50s, and after I'd changed my fronts to the softer compound I got kicked out of the setup screen - I had no idea what I'd be starting on! Had I activated a new hybrid tyre glitch...?

... No, I started on mediums

Wasn't too concerned, but it became apparent very quickly that the top two had started on softs, as had most of the field immediately behind me and while I was getting everything up to temperature I was immediately put under pressure (and nudged wide!)

And came out 4th of this bunch on L2

Settling in and reaching the pit stop, down in (I think) 9th, the rest of the race was relatively serene. The front two had checked out and all I had to do was keep a Jag at arm's length. An Aston emerging from the pits on mediums threw a small spanner in the works, as he came out between me and the Jag. I knew I just needed to break the tow to be safe and with a 0.6-0.7s advantage going into the left hand hairpin in S2 it seemed I'd done the work, only for him to miss his braking point, tap me up the back and then be 0.2 behind. Going down the main straight I had both him and the Jag in close company, I held the inside line as long as I could to prevent the easy overtake and with the Aston alongside me and the Jag ready to pounce I hit the braking point perfectly and kept both cars behind

From there it was just a case of keeping that Jag out of slipstream range, which I was able to manage. And I came home 3rd for 266 pts.

A solid first half of the season I think. Hopes are already high for Interlagos!

 

[ShiftingGears]

I finished in the top 1000 so I guess you could say I'm a big deal

 

[csmirnoff]

Final round of the Manufacturers season with the Jaguar F-type at Sardegna.

Americas Slot 3, door #5 on a 196 point lobby, sharing it with @C_Raccoon23. Lost a few tenths in my first qualy lap, was improving two tenths in the second one but messed up the last sector. Would have made just one place difference though. Qualified P9, right behind @C_Raccoon23's Ford GT.

Started on mediums, we moved up a place in T1 as someone ended in the gravel ahead. I was then attacked by a fellow Argentinian, who missed his braking point and punt me from miles back on L2 T1. Luckily, I just saw it coming on my radar and was ready to slam the brakes, so I managed to avoid being sent to the gravel. He picked up a 1-sec penalty and allowed me to keep the position, although I lost the slipstream to @C_Raccoon23.
As he was a little bit stuck behind other cars, I managed to catch back up.

When you made some defensive moves, I was trying to flash you to say 'don't defend, I'm not going for a move' 😄. Ford GT has good top speed and you weren't really holding me up, so at that point I preferred to work together and get away from the guys behind. Then when you made a mistake and hit the armco, I had no choice but to go for it or I could have crashed you.

After passing on lap 5, I had no slipstream anymore and I knew I could do 10 laps on the softs, so I decided to pit. Luckily, I didn't have too much traffic and was able to put in a few laps in the very low 41s. After everyone pitted, the undercut worked well, I was up to P5, helped by a couple of guys who had spun on the final corner.

In the last couple of laps, I had to defend against a Colombian who had made a mistake earlier. Starting the last lap, he tried to pull a dummy move into T1, but he did it so late I had to avoid turning into the corner. Luckily, we didn't have any contact and I managed to get the cutback as he completely missed the apex, but it was really really scary. Managed to defend without issues for the remainder of the lap.

P5 at the end. Solid race, don't think a better result was possible for me, and a slight improvement on my score, getting rid of a weaker round. Satisfied with a good result and an enjoyable race!

 

[MIE1992]

Q16/P15, not a fan of this course - at least with these cars. People kept trying to overtake in very inappropriate places, like the curves that are towards the beginning of the last sector. Whatever - at least only 1/3 of my best scores will count at the end of all this. Like, the score I got tonight was probably one of my worst scores - if not the worst - but I'm still glad I tried entering this final round of season 1. On to season 2!

 

[D_Dragline]

Me at the end of season 1

 

[sk1719]

-4k dr is how my night in the RX Vision went tonight.

 

[The359]

Earned my first victory in an official season since 2019 in the first slot, qualified second and traded back and forth the lead until I managed to stay in front. Good end to a hard first half of the season.

 

[05XR8]

That'd do it.

Not sure why, but I was muy slow in the RX-Vision - something like 2s off pole, and around 0.8s off 2nd to qualify 18th. Car seemed to suck in Church, Piaggio, and the left-handed kink before the final hairpin - or at least that's where I lost most time to others.

Finished... I don't know, 13th maybe? 5M/10S strategy seemed to work well, and I only got overtaken by one car after my stop.

Wasn't just you. I was slow in it as well. Started 18/20. Once on the softs, could then take advantage of the RX-V's sharp cornering.

 

[GTWolverine]

I actually did all 5 slots this evening in my quest to squeeze in a few more points, which was already going to be a tall order since my lowest counted score would be a 231 even if I didn't improve this evening.

Slot 1: I thought I was off to a good start qualifying 5th, even though I did screw up slightly on my fastest lap and could've had 2nd or 3rd. After the round of pitstops, I was in a several-car battle for 3rd when I got PIT-maneuvered at the exit of the hairpin after the church corner. Finished 10th, obviously with points not worth considering.

Slot 2: Messed up both qualifying attempts slightly and started P10. I had a pretty decent race and finished P6 for 220-something points, but it still wasn't enough to impact my points total. @F1Bernardo and I went into this round tied in the standings, and he had a great round, finishing 4th for 251 points, which meant I now not only had to try to improve my score, but had to get at least 251 as well make sure he didn't pass me in the standings. 😆

Slot 3: My worst personal performance of the evening. I qualified 12th and finished 14th. I got divebombed by several cars on the opening lap and lost 5 spots just on Lap 1, then later in the race I massively outbraked myself and went straight on at T1, fortunately flying well up the inside of the cars in front of me and avoiding collisions with them, but I lost more than 5s getting out of the gravel (I'm surprised it wasn't more).

Slot 4: Qualified 5th again. Like all the other races I started on Mediums. The cars that qualified ahead of me were all cars I'd finished ahead of in previous slots, so I was liking my chances. When they all pulled away in the opening couple of laps, I figured they'd all started on Softs, and I just had to stay within a few seconds to benefit once everyone changed tires... Instead, it turned out that everyone in front of me except 1 car had started on the Mediums, and they still managed to pull away from me. 😭 Still, I was running in 5th, in a 3-way battle for 4th, when I was accidentally punted at T1 on the last lap. Me and the punter are friends, so obviously it wasn't intentional, and he waited for me to catch back up. Unfortunately in doing so, we collided again at the apex T4 (I thought he was going to back out more before we got to the apex since he was clearly giving the spot back). I picked up a 1s penalty for that, so he stayed behind while I served that penalty too. In spite of all the time lost, I only lost 1 spot from it, and finished 6th again for 222 points.

Slot 5: Since this was the final slot, I ended up in Top Split, so I was expecting to really struggle at least in qualifying. Surprisingly I qualified under 1s off pole and started 12th, making me a bit optimistic. At the start I immediately broke the slipstream to the car behind before we even got to T1, and stayed P12 for the first 2 laps until 11th outbraked himself into the final hairpin, then @Winnie847 disconnected a few seconds later, moving me up to P10, where I spent most of the race. After the pit stops, I closed the gap 1.5s to the Mazda VGT in front of me, and spent the final 4 laps in a great battle with it - probably my best battle of the season in either championship. After swapping positions several times, on the last lap, I was in front and went too deep into the hairpin after the church, and allowed the Mazda to get next to me. Since he didn't have an overlap, I held firm and forced him to take a tight line into the fast left-hander before the final hairpin. That compromised his exit and I went back up the inside on the run to the final hairpin, then used the Corvette's power to hold him off from there and finish 9th for 225 points - which were still worthless 🤣.

Had this been literally any other season, this would've been one of my best - if not my absolute best - points hauls. In fact, I would've stopped after the 2nd slot and been content with that score. Most of the evening I never felt comfortable with the track, and never got the braking for the hairpins, or the turn-in for the fast left-hander right. It's especially a shame because the Corvette Gr.3 is supposed to be extremely strong here, but I ultimately let it down - especially in the 3rd slot.

 

[Raptor013]

Replay from my run last night.

 

[crusselz]

Missed yesterday's round, being out of town.

But season 2 does have some interesting combos, that could be great fun to race.

Only down side is missing perhaps my strongest combo in the game (interlagos, Gr.4). Won't be back home for a couple more weeks.

As for season 1. Some steady improvement across the board, but still feel like there is room to get better. Goal for next season is to keep on being consistent and hopefully push my FIA account in to the 40k - 45k range.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Have taken a long break since the Tokyo round. Mixture of family life matters getting in the way and also lack of interest in any of the remaining combos. Because of that, was unable to scrub off a couple of the low scores. Finished as second highest Chevy driver in London, the top driver being TunableCoyote who happens to also be the top Chevy driver in EMEA, so can’t complain! 2 great rounds with one of them being my highest ever score.

Will try and get back into the swing of things and compete in season 2. At least the combos from what I have seen have more forced tire changes. The Hard tire fuel saving sprints were getting a little stale.

Hopefully see you on track soon!

 

[Seth_Logan]

Before analysing this season like I did with the pre-season, I'd like to say that this season was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of variance. It all felt a bit stale (as Pinky puts it) for me too. BUT... from looking at the second leg of the season, I think the variance and exciting combo's are in there (apart from Tsukuba... what's up with that?). Only downside is the most interesting races are all on Wednesdays... I can - at most - do 2 of those 😢