2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[stpatty]

Started 16th. Made it up to 12th and somehow just a few seconds off of 6th. Lost 6 SR despite not getting an SR down warning, as far as I can remember. Bit of a rubbish race but only lost 300 DR and finished higher than I was expecting, so I'll live. Always nice to break out a nice livery too

 

[Norrin Radd]

I was undecided about doing this, mainly due to the pens situation, but I thought why not it's a good combo. So middleish race for me, 94 points and I see @RacingGrandpa who I know is about the same speed as me although his times for this seem a little slower than mine. Q3 and surprised that @RacingGrandpa is near the back nearly 3 sec slower than me, I recon he didn't remember about the overtake. Decide to go meds first, too many times you get taken out first corner and waste the softer compound. First few laps are a bit dodgy, but I settle in at 8th and once people start pitting from softs at 6 I'm feeling confident that a top 5 is possible. Everyone in front had pitted except 1 and we both come in on 11, he's 4 secs up but needs fuel so we're bumper to bumper coming out. I don't manage to pass quickly so just ease off a bit so we can move through the unpitted back markers without losing too much time. All done and lap 15 we're clear and I'm 4th. Start pushing hard and 3rd makes a mistake, but I'm 4-5 secs behind 2nd with 2 to go, then I'm catching the guy who was leading (yes he's short on fuel) I get him on the last lap on the last straight, despite him trying to block (how pathetic can you get?) and manage a decent 2nd so 1 and done. @RacingGrandpa was last on the track, so I take it he doesn't like this combo, it doesn't suit him or he had idiots to cope with.
That was fun though and surprising clean, just the one guy shoving at the start and trying to block at the end, good luck everyone and remember to use overtake especially for quali.

 

[Cherryturbo]

Slot 1 Interlagos. Q15 finished 10th. One guy had the 1 minute penalty and dropped from 5th to 11th. I had a clean race, no red dot and only one 0.5sec track limit. Presumably as a result of the ridiculous behaviour during the first two laps I ended up with -15 SR.

This was not great but one guy who was DNF got -42 SR and another got -37 SR.

However, the guy who got the time penalty actually finished with ………. -107 SR. I have never seen anyone take a hit that large. 😳

 

[stpatty]

Also I was going to share video of this but I've realised I messed up the capture somehow.

When I left the pits in qualifying I didn't go into autodrive, I turned to the left and into the garage. I thought this was a glitch and paused the game to quit and try again, when I realised the car wasn't moving. When I unpaused, I had control. I reversed and started driving, but when I got to the end of the pitlane the car was transported onto the track at turn 1. I went round on an out lap and almost finished a flying lap before I realised I was still in out lap mode. I quit and went again and it was fine. Anyone had this before? It's the first I've heard of it.

 

[Zorz]

One-and-done for me in the Super Formula, which I'm quite thankful for. I've had decent results with them before but I'm not particularly comfortable driving these things if I'm honest. I decided to try doing it with the TCS turned off this time too, so pleased that it worked out. I think these are one of the last cars I've felt I needed traction control on to reliably manage.

After seeing the lobby was worth 224 points and I was door 12 I was quite anxious, but I put in a strong qualifying and took P4 with a 1:14.813. After misjudging turn 1 a bit and pushing P3 a bit wide, I immediately backed off to allow him/her back through and carried on. Watching the replay back, starting that far forward was very much in my favour because all hell had broken out behind.

I spent a fair chunk of the racing chasing a Portuguese driver who had started P2 on Mediums and went for a 7M/13S strategy. In the first stint I managed to get several seconds in front due to a track limits penalty, but was then very surprised to find I'd been undercut. Got to say fair play for managing to make the Softs last that long though.

Most of the race was spent in my own little bubble doing my own thing, so fairly peaceful. Ended up P5 because a certain YouTuber I've mentioned recently was also in the race and was doing a last-to-first challenge after not qualifying. 😒 Still, 185 points and a DR boost to 45.9K is very welcome.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

I was undecided about doing this, mainly due to the pens situation, but I thought why not it's a good combo. So middleish race for me, 94 points and I see @RacingGrandpa who I know is about the same speed as me although his times for this seem a little slower than mine. Q3 and surprised that @RacingGrandpa is near the back nearly 3 sec slower than me, I recon he didn't remember about the overtake. Decide to go meds first, too many times you get taken out first corner and waste the softer compound. First few laps are a bit dodgy, but I settle in at 8th and once people start pitting from softs at 6 I'm feeling confident that a top 5 is possible. Everyone in front had pitted except 1 and we both come in on 11, he's 4 secs up but needs fuel so we're bumper to bumper coming out. I don't manage to pass quickly so just ease off a bit so we can move through the unpitted back markers without losing too much time. All done and lap 15 we're clear and I'm 4th. Start pushing hard and 3rd makes a mistake, but I'm 4-5 secs behind 2nd with 2 to go, then I'm catching the guy who was leading (yes he's short on fuel) I get him on the last lap on the last straight, despite him trying to block (how pathetic can you get?) and manage a decent 2nd so 1 and done. @RacingGrandpa was last on the track, so I take it he doesn't like this combo, it doesn't suit him or he had idiots to cope with.
That was fun though and surprising clean, just the one guy shoving at the start and trying to block at the end, good luck everyone and remember to use overtake especially for quali.

Your partly right. I was dealing with a lot of people. But off the game.....

I had a total disaster of a race. Door 15, q17, p6 after lap 1.
But then it began.
My phone rings, I ignore it. My daughter comes with it, stuff it my face and yank my arm while telling me my phone rings.
I tell her to let it ring I will call back later.
Then another of my daughter's started a fight with yet another of my daughters in the kitchen right next to the living room
Then my kid sits down behind me and starts singing....
Then I accidentally switch camera and can't change gear while I switch camera back and I spin out.
Then I spin out again as someone taps me in the hairpin.
Then I pit for new tires...
By now my concentration is a little lacking.....
I finish as 18. Only because 2 people DNF...
Not doing that again.

Lesson. Race when the kids are in bed. Oh no... Nations is in the middle of the afternoon.

Solution? Drop nations untill they switch days, then it's Manu that gets dropped ...

I read the average age of gamers is 30. Why are the races done at matinee hour then?

 

[Mercia]

1st attempt starting from 14th, finished 9th, fine but went into practice and took 2 seconds off my previous best so you can bet we're going again.

That first lap is insane, with no damage on the formula cars, just everyone trying to take up the same space as everyone else, this would have been red flagged in real life haha. After that it did stretch out a bit an aside from one knucklehead I enjoyed some good wheel to wheel racing and clean battles, almost as if damage was a factor though of course if you're a racer you know how important any lost tenths are or how dangerous any potential spin or time in the gravel can be.

With F1's weekly event also at Interlagos it's going to be interesting to compare the two games running formula cars at the same track. I can imagine the shrapnel will be flying on F1, but hopefully it doesn't take too many attempts to score a decent result which is always the worry on that game as clean racing wheel to wheel is harder to come by on there than a glitch free event.

Just grabbing the most random and hopefully distracting liveries available is always part of the fun

 

[Stoobert]

I jumped in to this race in two minds. One I know that just lapping around in practice I was on a nice pace and could get a decent result. The second mind was that it's fast cars with hard braking zones = DEATH.

Qualifying I managed to get out second and went around to start the first flying lap. I used a generous amount of overtake and set a nice banker time of a low 1:15.3. I was going faster on the second lap but messed up coming out of "Alex Albon" corner which meant my time ended up ever so slightly slower. At this point I had burned nearly all my overtake and going in hot in to T1 meant that my first lap time was the best and was good enough to start third.

In the actual race I bogged down off the line meaning 4th came up along side me. There was a bit of dirtyness by the guy in second (more on him later) to push the pole sitter on to the grass at T1 causing him to drop to seventh...

Then the inevitable T1 carnage happened that I managed to all but avoid. A returning car to the track kind of blocked the path for everyone and I came out of the corner in P2 with a very nice second to the group behind.

T4 was another bunch of carnage. I put the brakes on too late, completely missing the apex causing me to need to brake a lot more to avoid going wide and getting a penalty. This managed to be my saviour as there was divebombing in to the apex and it was likely I would have been caught in that crossfire. The person who started on pole managed to stay behind that carnage and took T4 beautifully coming through to overtake the clusfter and myself back in to second. The three of us started on softs and 4th and 5th at least were on mediums which gave us the ability to pull away and enter our own little bubble to just churn out lap after lap.

On lap 5 the guy in second, who had been looking a little squirrely for the last few laps, had the car snap on him out of the left-hander at the start of Sector 3 giving me the opportunity to start putting in a few more laps in clean air. I was going faster than the leader by a good 0.5 - 0.8s a lap getting down to less than 2 seconds at the pit stop. After the pits we came out in traffic and he was DESPERATE to get past. we're talking elbows out inside diving, using cars as barriers etc...

On lap 16 he had a bit of an off at "Alex Albon corner" for me to unexpectedly take the lead. I was trying too hard on the subsequent lap and making a few mistakes for him to get back at me. At the final corner he decided to use me as a brake. Luckily as I was going slow there wasn't too much damage other than losing the position again.

Lap 20 he made mistake at T1 which brought me back in to the battle. Battle being the operative word. His tyres had obviously gone now so was braking really early and wide in sector 2, leaving the inside clear for me, but each time he would swing on to me to prevent any kind of pass and so second place it was.

 

[Cherryturbo]

Slot 2 no better than slot 1. Both DR and SR have been smashed.

I'm checking out of GTS. This game isn't fun anymore.

Going to echo this sentiment. Well I’m going to try to but it’s a tough addiction to break.

Stay safe all.

 

[OJBrit]

Not a bad race for all of 10 mins practice beforehand.

In qualy I set a so so lap during lap 1 which was provisional 4th. During lap 2 I slowly caught a couple of cars ahead finally catching them in the midfield causing me to muck up Bico de Pato. Despite the overtake and slip it was still a hair slower and not knowing what they were doing I gave up on a further lap. I was 8th currently and this is where I stayed on the grid.

I decided to do the medium stint first. I launched better than those immediately in front and we went 3 wide into turn 1 with me the meat in the sandwich. I was put wide through turn 1 so took the free hit for the 2nd part of the Senna S and emerged in P9 but facing the right way. Over the course of the first stint I slowly made my way up the field due to spins and penalties. I was P2 after lap 8 after a gaggle of soft runners pitted ahead. I was faring better on the meds than those on the softs despite the car refusing to turn in the midfield sector and a Spaniard I had overtaken earlier slowly closing. I came in lap 11 and the Spaniard followed on my rear wing.
Softs and no fuel but the gauge said 8.8 laps remaining with 9 to go. A small amount of short shifting required then.
I came out ghosted with the Spaniard half inside me. He went right whilst I stayed left. Another car came along and bumped the Spaniard and they both went around my outside as I played caution with cold tyres. Predictably they battled and on fresh tyres the Spaniard won and I got the German up the hill out of Juncao. Others pitted ahead and myself and the Spaniard caught those ahead. Eventually we caught an Italian. Spaniard went ahead and I followed along the pit straight. Of course this granted the Italian slip along the Reta Oposta. He dived into Descida do lago which I wasn't too happy with. Then coming out of Bico de Pato he lit up the tyres and went for a meeting with Barry R. Tchau buddy. I chase down the Spaniard and pass him a couple of laps later along the pit straight as I saved a slither of overtake. I was too far behind to make any further inroads and crossed the line P5.

Happy with this so one and done.

 

[Mercia]

1st attempt starting from 14th, finished 9th, fine but went into practice and took 2 seconds off my previous best so you can bet we're going again.

That first lap is insane, with no damage on the formula cars, just everyone trying to take up the same space as everyone else, this would have been red flagged in real life haha. After that it did stretch out a bit an aside from one knucklehead I enjoyed some good wheel to wheel racing and clean battles, almost as if damage was a factor though of course if you're a racer you know how important any lost tenths are or how dangerous any potential spin or time in the gravel can be.

With F1's weekly event also at Interlagos it's going to be interesting to compare the two games running formula cars at the same track. I can imagine the shrapnel will be flying on F1, but hopefully it doesn't take too many attempts to score a decent result which is always the worry on that game as clean racing wheel to wheel is harder to come by on there than a glitch free event.

Just grabbing the most random and hopefully distracting liveries available is always part of the fun

View attachment 1092175

Started 4th the second go round, would of been faster but a slower car wouldn't yield the line to the hotter lap going into turn 1, what can you do.

Have to say the race that followed is probably the most fun I've had on this game and that's saying a lot for me. Bit of a mess up on the start for the pole sitter caused a ripple effect and I was able to jump into first going into the S, but the pack right behind me and the cars that were 2nd-5th would be there with me the whole race, through the pit stops and up the final climb up the hill. Swapping positions lap after lap, turn after turn, wheel to wheel rubbing is racing, but respectful and not intent on a punt or ram to get past.

Incredibly intense in these cars, a physical workout on the wheel. Have to say it's not an experience the official F1 game has ever provided.

Going up the hill the last time I was in 2nd place, about 0.8 off the leader with 3rd right on my tail. The leader picked up a .5 penalty I assume for track limits on the final corner and it became a dash to the line, he cut the inside of the painted tarmac trying to squeeze every hundredth out of the track, now at 1 second, but so did I! What I get for trying to follow the slipstream. Meant I didn't pass for 1st and unfortunately dropped 2nd to the guy behind, but happy to make it from lap 1 to 20 with these guys, and delighted with 3rd place there.

There's nothing like the emergent story telling that coms from racing and racing games, no other genre really touches it at its best.

 

[Hasnain282]

I'd done this combo not too long ago in a league race so was hoping for a decent run. Was in a lobby with @GR33N and my league racing teammate but not loads of people I've raced with extensively before.
My quali was 3 tenths off what I did in practice but it was still enough for P5.
Had a decent start but was stuck behind a medium runner for a couple laps but once I got past, 2 of the drivers in front made mistakes giving me P2 and after that nothing much happened really and I brought it safely home for the podium.

Replay

 

[stpatty]

I'd done this combo not too long ago in a league race so was hoping for a decent run. Was in a lobby with @GR33N and my league racing teammate but not loads of people I've raced with extensively before.
My quali was 3 tenths off what I did in practice but it was still enough for P5.
Had a decent start but was stuck behind a medium runner for a couple laps but once I got past, 2 of the drivers in front made mistakes giving me P2 and after that nothing much happened really and I brought it safely home for the podium.

View attachment 1092207View attachment 1092208View attachment 1092209

Replay

Your teammate was in my first slot race. I thought you had an alt account when I saw the livery.

 

[GR33N]

Congrats on your 2nd place @Hasnain282, good points you got there !

I went again in the last slot and eventually got to grips with that overtake button (I didn't know it was going to be active in qualy !) and set a 14.0 that put me 4th on the grid. I went for an M-S strategy, aiming for the undercut on lap 8 as I found recently that my driving style was pretty efficient in saving tyres.

After the pit rotation I was in 5th behind 3 guys on Mediums and one on Softs like me. That guy ended up winning the race but I believe he's an "alien" from SA (kartkartxxx, anyone can confirm ?).
As for me, I spent too much time trying to find the opening behind the M runners but eventually got past 1 of them. Another one disconnected and I spent the last 4 laps trying to catch 2nd but finished 0.15s behind.

3rd place for 259 points, not bad for me I guess.

Things to work on:

- the pace on Mediums was a bit off whereas I was """flying""" (low) on Softs.

- be more deadly when I commit to the overtake. I'm a bit too kind, when I watched the replay of that kartkart guy, he passed the 2 guys in front in 3 corners. Bim bam boom, let me through (so agressive but not really dirty after all, just sooo confident).

- The first few corners of those standing start races where I'm usually also too kind and lose a looot of places.

Have a nice rest of weekend everyone!

 

[Hasnain282]

Your teammate was in my first slot race. I thought you had an alt account when I saw the livery.

Yeah he normally doesn't do Sport Mode but he likes driving the high downforce cars. He said he was going to play the game less but yet here he was 😆

 

[Norrin Radd]

Great USA slot 1 and quali spoiled by some idiot not having overtake bound So 8th rather than top 3 (from previous quali times) . Bad start for some and I'm 4th......but by end of the lap been bumped back to 8th. Faster than the guys near me so get back to 6th. Another one makes an error and I pressure 5th into running wide and getting a pen, don't pass but he decides to pit and it's only lap 7. By 9 I've clawed my way to the back of the 4 and only 5 secs behind leader. Over the next 2 laps they all pit from softs and I'm feeling really good on my meds. End of 11 I pit and only 2 in front 1st still has to pit and right on the tail of the guy I'm racing. I burn some overtake on lap 13 and take him on the straight. Fairly easy win from there, plenty of fuel and pulling away at over a sec a lap. Nice 108 points win and fastest lap, just a pity about quali not going again though.

 

[D_Dragline]

Dredge’s Alt Adventures: Episode 4

Couldn’t do Interlagos on my main so the Canadian doctor got to do the first run at it. Slot 2 in NA, door 5 in a C/S lobby. Starting with 7641/99.

Qualifying was a weird shambles. Lots of blocking, overtaking and diving. I had to navigate past 5 cars on my first flying lap and at least 2 on the next 2 as well. Banked a very average 1:15.8 on lap 2 but it turned out to be 1.3 seconds faster than Q2.

Started on softs and prayed to the god of divebombs to keep me safe at turn 1. I needn’t have worried as the danger came from too far back and took out P2-5 leaving me through scot-free. From there it was just a matter of keeping it neat and managing fuel and tyres. Came in on lap 12, 34 seconds ahead of P2. A bit of fun then ensued as a train of back markers on softs raced me as I lapped them. I tried to be respectful and act as though they weren’t ghosted and it was the most fun I had in the race.

Eventually I was in clean air again and crossed the line 1st without incident. 39 points and up to 9135/99.

Hoping to get a run at the Nordschleife in the WRX but it won’t be easy with work. @JoeDaSnow get that SR up to 99 so we can race.

 

[csmirnoff]

I like the Super Formula and Interlagos, so I was hoping for a good result here... Skipped the first two slots due to F1 qualy.

CSA Slot 3, directly thrown into top split, door #16 on a 284-point lobby... 3 or 4 of the region's top 10 times in the race, I was regretting skipping the first two slots...

Had no qualy practice with overtake, so I was quite pleased with qualifying P10 on a 14.6 on such a lobby (TT PB was 15.2). Decided to start on the mediums, pitting for softs at the end of lap 10.

Unfortunately, after a good start I lost a few places with an incident in T4, and then struggled badly with the tyres, specially on the softs. My best race lap was a 17.1 and there were guys lapping in mid 15s, impossible... P13 at the finish, decided to go again.

CSA Slot 4, door #8 on a lobby which I believe was still top split but a much weaker one, only worth 247 points.

Got my first qualy lap ruined by a guy who started way too close and went for a move into T1 on the flying lap.... In my only attempt, I had to be a bit safer, so this time only managed a 14.8, but it was enough for P5.

This time, I decided to start on the softs. I realised that unlike in most combos, I was finding the mediums the better race tyre. I was only quicker with the softs for a few laps. So this time, I decided to use the early pace of the softs to try to run away from the pack, then pit early and get an undercut. Strategy worked very well.

Made a good start, up to P4 after the guy ahead slid off the track. Up to P3 a few laps later after another guy had an issue. Pitted for mediums at the end of lap 9. Unfortunately, exited just behind a guy that was really struggling with tyres, and as I tried to find my way around him without hitting him, got overtaken in an oportunistc manner by another Argentinian, down to P4 after everyone pitted.

Was surprised by how much he ran away from me since we were closely matched in the first stint, but then found out why. He was again on softs, not sure if he pressed the wrong button or it was his strategy, but he pitted again with a couple of laps to go, so I was back in 3rd.

Being miles away from the two leaders, who were almost in another class down the road, and managing the gap behind quite confortably, I managed to finish P3.

PB DR at 53.8k. And 227 points which is actually my new record if I don't count the Route X race. And even if it was a very-low-rated top split, I think it was my first FIA top split podium, so pretty happy with the result!

 

[avgracer41]

Probably my favorite FIA nations race and despite the good result which I got, the ending was bittersweet. I always felt Super Formula was underused in GT Sports, so I was looking forward for this race. Trained a little, got I nice zero two livery and went for the session. Home race, favorite car, let's do it.

Second slot, door 14, most of the grid being A ranking drivers with a few B drivers (me included). When I looked it, I thought "a strong lobby for my skills, I might fight for a top 10 finish at the best". I made a mistake in my first two qualify laps and saved the boost due to that. 14th best time, until I started to get the things together. I didn't believe in purple in sector two. When I crossed the lap, Pole position by less than a tenth of second. I cannot believed. Starting on Pole, things were looking very good.

I got a pretty good start and after the first lap, I was 0.7s ahead of second place. At the end of lap 4, a very quickly guy closed on me and overtook me at first corner. I made a mistake, ran wide and lost a second due that. This made me lost another position. I calmed down but I got overtook by one more driver, which pushed me wide. I regained 3rd place on his failed attempt of undercut everyone. In the 2nd half of the race, I was pretty consistent and was slowly catching 2nd, but a driver with alternative strategy was catching me as well. Last lap, three way battle for 2nd place, the guy behind me gave me a little tap and I lost the slipstream. He also managed to outrun me in the finish straight. 4th place.

Sure this was a pretty good result, considering the level of myself and the lobby and me getting used to DS4 again. But I really wanted to win that one or at least scored a podium. The first place was pretty quick and won by finishing 15s ahead of everyone. At the end of day, it was bittersweet, but I cannot complain about that. I'm just 500 points of returning to A and I got 135pts, my best score of this new season.

Edit:

For anyone who wants the livery which I used, here go:

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[PhlebMike]

Tried tonight's race....
N/A slot 2. Don't remember what my door number was, but it doesn't really matter. Got slammed off on my first hot lap at T1, ended up WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY off. Went in and oput, only have time for one flier. Put in a stonking good lap, nabbed Q2. Front row baby!!
Yeah, but I then forgot a couple things. Cold tires and traction control. Lights go out, I hit the gas, get about 30 meters off the line, then spin so bad, I can't recover. P2 to P last mission completed. I them proceed to make every mistake you can imagine. Spin off kurbs, cook it going into turn 4, generally make a dog's lunch of the whole race. One exception, fastest lap by .4 seconds. It's there, I just couldn't hold on to it.
Go for broke! N/A slot 3, ditto above. Started P2. This time, I had a great get away......but was unprepared for the savage beating I took from the half dozen dirtbag drivers behind me. Pushed, brake checked and punted from P2 down to P10. Lap 10 hit the pits. Come out in P17 of 18. I hammer away, but I'm not getting the lap times I know I can, so I take Tigney's advice; Overtake by not overtaking. That goes great up to P9 when the guy that goes way wide swings back onto track, over the grass, to nail my flank, spinning me around and off. The rage quit was my only possible response.
Never doing another National. The last two I've done were exercises in savagery, without a shred of sportsmanship. The cost in DR/SR is more than I can stomach.

 

[LVS_1986]

Hi! At last my race went well... Q4, survived Senna S, 2 guys in front of me make mistake and both run wide, Im 2nd now, on lap 3 I overtake german and now Im 1st... I was starting on softs, pitted on lap 10 and think it was mistake to stay that long, after leaving pit Im 2nd(5th but 3 cars have to pit) 2 another cars came from nowhere, and I have to defend, lost one position and finally crossed the finish line in 3rd... It was better and cleaner than I expected, also good point so decided to not try again

 

[LeGeNd-1]

So...the Sardegna race is a massive demo derby as expected. Not just dirty driving, but 2 people in my room were basically just wallriding in T1 Tapping the brake slightly and barrelling into the turn at full speed (even taking out other cars in the process), doesn't get you ANY penalty at all. Even though you get front bumper damage every lap, it's still way faster than taking the corner normally. They were both running 1st and 2nd, wayyyy ahead of anybody else. Unfortunately, they were also dumb enough to not read the race settings and didn't pit, so dropped to 10th and 11th in the end Reported both drivers, but PD doesn't give a damn anyways so I'm sure they'll come back.

I started 19th, got spun round in T1, pitted on lap 29 (no tires), and still managed to finish ahead of them. Cheating doesn't pay people

Replay if anyone wants to watch the full shenanigans...

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[Geauxgreddy]

2021 Nations Exhibition Round 3 - Interalgos
Super Formula - Honda
Door #5, SR A+/S and some A/S

Practiced a few races and what I learned was... Dirty air sucks. Don't use all your Overtake too quickly. Get out of your rearview mirror. Learn the brake point from a dead start for T1.

What's annoying with the time trial lobby, or any lobby you open up, is you can't practice with the darn overtake. It really is something you need to work on for qualifying. So, I set a 25 minute Qualifying and just ran it with another person. On my Fanatec wheel, the buttons are all in TERRIBLE position to hold while steering. My T150 had a much better button location. But, practice I did and was able to get down to a 1:14.4xx. I'm not going to be mistaken for an alien, but not terribly slow either.

Lobby opens and I'm door #5. My DR is 56000 so I was surprised to see A drivers in the lobby. Guess this wasn't a well attended race. I get out to qualify and leave the gentlemen in front of me about 2 seconds or so gap before the start/finish straight. I catch him before Turn 1. Sigh. Guess he forgot about Overtake. Run that lap as a banker but its a terrible 1:15.3xx good for a provisional P9. I exit and re-enter with clear space. When I take the last corner I mash the button everywhere except the Senna S and in the tight corners. But I went TOO deep in the final Tight Right hander and screwed up the last turn and end up with a 1:14.9xx. Grrrr. Q5. Same as my door!

I went TC 1, wait till 4th light, foot to floor, let it rip and grip, then pound the boost button, leave TC on until the straight after the Senna S. P1 false started so had to dodge him (RIP ImpatientMeteor). I went inside, Q3 went outside. My braking practice worked out and I was side by side with P3 as he broke a bit early. We were 3 wide (p2-4) in the S and I was the meat in the sandwich. So, I just let the other two decide where I ended up. It was a clean attempt by all 3 of us but Q2 went wide and cut the Senna S. No penalty, thankfully, he wasn't trying to be dirty, Q1 false starting just kind of messed up our lines.

Exiting the Senna S, I was door to door with p3, he had the inside, so I gave it up for the next double left. I did not want the rabid pack to catch us and we were all on Medium tires. No need to fight for p3 on lap 1. P1 that was scampering off on Softs, au revoir! I just hung out behind p3 just out of the wash waiting for a mistake. We were within a tenth of each other lap time wise and he was a hair quicker. I pulled a quick gap on p5 and settled in until lap 10. Pitted, put on softs, came out and P3 waited for lap 11. He came out and we were door to door. So, I got about a second and a half on the undercut. I pulled out again, hoping for an error to take advantage of. It never came. The original pole sitter got within 3 seconds of me at the end, but didn't have enough to catch me. Finished p4 and took about 223 points or so. Very clean race, overall pretty boring except for turn 1. On to my nemesis...the green hell.

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

I forgot when the race was, I don't like formulas anyway...had to skip. I just know I'd end up crashing or spinning off and just get frustrated. I hate Interlagos anyway...only because I have very little experience on it.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

NA Slot 4, mixed A/S and A+/S Lobby, 255 points, Door #14

I was cautiously optimistic about this round. My best time in FP was 1:15.447, which was almost within a second of the top 10 North America leaderboard. Never gotten that close before.

My original goal was to keep racing until I finished 5th or better. The first three races had mixed results (and I joined with @Q8Racer7 and @KosmoKazi along the way), but I just couldn’t quite keep in together in qualifying and replicate what I did in FP.

In this fourth race, I found myself in a lobby worth 255 points and filled with A+ drivers to my surprise. And to get my first 200 points ever, I just needed to finish 6th or better. I managed to qualify midfield in 12th. I started on Mediums and my pit strategy was 9M/11S, with the intent of going for an undercut. To keep a long story short, the undercut worked and I found myself in 8th by lap 12 with 7th and 6th not far ahead on Mediums. They were also struggling and thanks to my grippier tires, this allowed me to catch up to them. The driver in 6th eventually picked up a 1 second penalty and 7th binned the final turn. I was now in 6th going into lap 17.

With only a few laps left, I almost had 6th place in the bag but another driver who still had a reserve of boost caught up to me on lap 19 and overtook me going into turn 1. I unfortunately had no more boost left as I gradually used it all during the whole course of the race. And my tires were too worn anyway to take the position back.

This was the most bittersweet race I have ever had. I just needed one more position to get my first 200+ point score. It was a great race, but man, I can't stop thinking about what could have been. The silver lining here is that I beat a few A+ drivers in the most competitive FIA lobby I've ever been in so far, boosting my DR to 45.3K. At least at the end of the day, I'm another step closer to being A+ myself.

 

[crusselz]

Been a busy few weeks, haven't had much time to race, let alone practice for any of the races.

Hoped in to the first slot, with zero practice. As a form of practice. Door 16 finished 10th. But definitely had good pace.

3rd slot, managed to put it on pole, much to my surprise.

Race was pretty smooth sailing, kept my overtake for the last 2 laps. Just in case it was needed. Tried to keep it clean and consistent.
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Came home in P1. A rare win, and the first time I've ever gone over 200 points.

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A huge thank you to @Mistah_MCA for the awesome FIA guides.

 

[KosmoKazi]

NA Slot 4, mixed A/S and A+/S Lobby, 255 points, Door #14

I was cautiously optimistic about this round. My best time in FP was 1:15.447, which was almost within a second of the top 10 North America leaderboard. Never gotten that close before.

My original goal was to keep racing until I finished 5th or better. The first three races had mixed results (and I joined with @Q8Racer7 and @KosmoKazi along the way), but I just couldn’t quite keep in together in qualifying and replicate what I did in FP.

In this fourth race, I found myself in a lobby worth 255 points and filled with A+ drivers to my surprise. And to get my first 200 points ever, I just needed to finish 6th or better. I managed to qualify midfield in 12th. I started on Mediums and my pit strategy was 9M/11S, with the intent of going for an undercut. To keep a long story short, the undercut worked and I found myself in 8th by lap 12 with 7th and 6th not far ahead on Mediums. They were also struggling and thanks to my grippier tires, this allowed me to catch up to them. The driver in 6th eventually picked up a 1 second penalty and 7th binned the final turn. I was now in 6th going into lap 17.

With only a few laps left, I almost had 6th place in the bag but another driver who still had a reserve of boost caught up to me on lap 19 and overtook me going into turn 1. I unfortunately had no more boost left as I gradually used it all during the whole course of the race. And my tires were too worn anyway to take the position back.

This was the most bittersweet race I have ever had. I just needed one more position to get my first 200+ point score. It was a great race, but man, I can't stop thinking about what could have been. The silver lining here is that I beat a few A+ drivers in the most competitive FIA lobby I've ever been in so far, boosting my DR to 45.3K. At least at the end of the day, I'm another step closer to being A+ myself.

You were really on point last night... great work. I wish I could have figured it out, but I was so far off my practice pace that I felt like Jimmie Johnson in an IndyCar... just lost. Helpless.

I had run up to 12th or 13th I think after starting near the back, but was easily overtaken one after the other. And I had way too much fuel left at the end, so I think that was part of it... but my pace was just awful. On to the 'Ring, after a really bad week of FIA races, with three absolute disasters of races in a row.

 

[AstroVex]

I found myself in the second slot with @C_Raccoon23 and @Q8Racer7 (a couple of posts above) yesterday night. Never been in such a high DR lobby before, but I had a remarkable practice time for my usual standards, so here it goes...

A great qualifying brought me to start from the third place. Fortunately, things went smooth and I managed to keep my position through the first lap, even gaining a position due to the leader spinning out at T4. I raced with confidence, using my overtake wisely, and ended up finishing third, a few seconds behind Q8Racer7 if I am right. Oh what a race it was... My hands were shaky after that one😅.

My best personal score so far! 180+ points. Wow! Thanks to everybody involved. Couldn't be happier, especially as a Nurb race is coming our way.

I also wanted to pay a little tribute to Patrick Carpentier, one of my favorite childhood drivers. I was rocking his IndyCar Player's Forsythe livery yesterday night. I'm sure it helped Stay safe folks

 

[SpeedStarGTS]

My wheel broke down moths ago we been out of action. we did round 01 at route x missed round 2. So this round was the first time back to proper racing action and we were not disappointed, if i were to describe this race in one word that would be "chaos". My Strat. was simple stay calm stay focus and stay out of trouble we manage to get a pretty good result.

 

[Q8Racer7]

NA Slot 4, mixed A/S and A+/S Lobby, 255 points, Door #14

I was cautiously optimistic about this round. My best time in FP was 1:15.447, which was almost within a second of the top 10 North America leaderboard. Never gotten that close before.

My original goal was to keep racing until I finished 5th or better. The first three races had mixed results (and I joined with @Q8Racer7 and @KosmoKazi along the way), but I just couldn’t quite keep in together in qualifying and replicate what I did in FP.

In this fourth race, I found myself in a lobby worth 255 points and filled with A+ drivers to my surprise. And to get my first 200 points ever, I just needed to finish 6th or better. I managed to qualify midfield in 12th. I started on Mediums and my pit strategy was 9M/11S, with the intent of going for an undercut. To keep a long story short, the undercut worked and I found myself in 8th by lap 12 with 7th and 6th not far ahead on Mediums. They were also struggling and thanks to my grippier tires, this allowed me to catch up to them. The driver in 6th eventually picked up a 1 second penalty and 7th binned the final turn. I was now in 6th going into lap 17.

With only a few laps left, I almost had 6th place in the bag but another driver who still had a reserve of boost caught up to me on lap 19 and overtook me going into turn 1. I unfortunately had no more boost left as I gradually used it all during the whole course of the race. And my tires were too worn anyway to take the position back.

This was the most bittersweet race I have ever had. I just needed one more position to get my first 200+ point score. It was a great race, but man, I can't stop thinking about what could have been. The silver lining here is that I beat a few A+ drivers in the most competitive FIA lobby I've ever been in so far, boosting my DR to 45.3K. At least at the end of the day, I'm another step closer to being A+ myself.

You had a strong pace last night my friend and I am glad to see you improved your points. Well deserved. Unfortunately, this circuit is well known for dive bombers especially since the overtake boost can be used for those moves into Turns 1 and 4 without leaving any space at all. Nevertheless, Great racing and good points as well.