Since this is likely to be the last week I'll be playing GT Sport as a
racing game, why not squeeze in a few N24 Daily runs this afternoon while I have the chance? Might as well before the lobbies are all filled with sub-8 minute qualifiers.
Felt a bit nostalgic so decided to use one of the Gr.3 machines that I started off with in Dailies and early FIA rounds. First choice was the FT-1 since that was one of the cars I actually got for free with the steelbook edition, but couldn't manage to repeat the time I set in qualifying for the December edition. Went with my second choice, the Alfa 4C, which actually feels nice to chuck around the Nordschleife even with its snappy torque curve and lack of top-end power. It was this which gave me my first-ever Gr.3 win Dailies, along with wins in casual Nordschleife lobbies and gold in the final Mission Challenge event.
How well does it hold up in a DR A+/S lobby 4-5 years on? Well... you shall see...
15:00 EMEA
Had intended to set a time right out of the gates, but crashed on the Nordschleife parts and didn't have enough time for another attempt before the 15:00 slot. The idea from there was to treat this as a shakedown run, as I wasn't sure whether the multipliers or 2-lap format would necessitate any tyre/fuel stops at the half-way mark. Entered without a time... and so did ten others. Lined up 17th on the grid, which meant there was a chance I could lose it on cold Mediums coming out of the final corners. Short-shifted my way through which gifted the South African Jaguar driver the place, though at this early stage I was comfortable since we know how unpredictable races on the N24 course can get. In any case, the Jag suffers major latency issues and retires upon slamming into the concrete as we enter the Nordschleife loop.
The weirdest thing about the Alfa is that in qualifying, it feels very ragged whenever I try to push it through the corners. In lobby trims, it doesn't do that as much. The steering is less sensitive, the car actually feels fairly composed in a way that reminds me of the R8 or the WRX. It still can get unsettled if I rev or pitch it too aggressively, or take big bites out of the kerbs, but on the whole it felt more pleasant than the last time I remembered running it.
Anyway, the strategy of keeping it cool and consistent paid off, with two more places gained from others tangling in the Aremberg gravel. The #8 Corvette loses it half-way round the Karussell, restoring the place initially handed to the #3 Dutch Lamborghini on the run through Kesselchen. That wouldn't be the only time this afternoon where the Alfa would struggle against the power cars. Another Corvette suffers the same fate at the mini Karussell, which puts us in 13th at the half-way point. 13th became 12th following an excursion for the #7 Mercedes (the older SLS model, surprisingly enough), then 11th when Lightning McQueen (#4 FT-1) retires following his own spin at Kesselchen. The only real shred of tension crept up on the final run to Tiergarten, when it became clear that the #7 had recovered well enough to get within my slipstream range. I was certainly not prepared for the Merc to attempt a move just before the braking zone, but held him off and survived his attempt at a cutback to take 11th home.
A pretty good start without a qualifying time. Tyres didn't feel too bad, either...
16:00 EMEA
Skipped the 15:30 so that I could stick my first proper QT run. Still made a few mistakes, but set a respectable 8:12.191 which was enough for me to pull off the unthinkable...
...outqualify
@GOTMAXPOWER for the 16:00! Alright, it was only 11th, but it did mean we could carry on from where we started.
By this stage, it was clear that the times had started to go under the 8-minute mark, and having to go around the GP loop while being sandwiched between Supras wasn't an easy task. In fact, it was after going wide through the Schumacher-S in which I realised that there was no point trying to fend off the #2 at such an early stage, especially with GOTMAXPOWER in the mix as well. The drawback was that this also opened the door up for several other cars to push me down the pack. Ended up 15th by the time we got onto the Nordschleife, though at first things seemed to swing back in my favour when four of the cars ahead (including GOTMAXPOWER) come together at Aremberg. We were back to 11th... but the pressure of having a Bilstein V12 Vantage following right behind did lead to me making a few small mistakes. Lost the place to him and the Genesis soon enough.
Not helping matters were a couple of excursions onto the grass, which only put me further and further back from what was at the time my strongest chance for a top 10 result. Lap 2 was another shuffle resulting mainly from others' misfortune, and for a good portion I was able to stick closely to GOTMAXPOWER's diffuser until he fell foul of a Supra at Hohe Acht. The gap between ourselves grew on the last stretch to Döttinger Höhe, until (as I later learnt) GOTMAXPOWER speared his Porsche into the Armco at Sprunghügel. A solid 13th was in the bag... until I carried a little too much speed into the mini Karussell and got spat out into the Armco as well. Lit up the rears trying to squirm my way back onto the track, and completely binned it just as GOTMAXPOWER and the others came.
Reset, come home in 16th, return to lobby frustrated and exhausted. It was already a tougher race with the constant shuffling and passes in places where I never thought one was possible with the limited run-off. But that spin was something else. How did I manage to throw away the recovery plan so easily? No time to complain... the entry process for the 16:30 was already well underway...
16:30 EMEA
By this time, the exhaustion was starting to creep in. The Nordschleife and 24h configurations always brought out some of the most mentally-demanding events GT Sport has to offer, and these Daily Cs were no exception. Matchmaking offered me hope as I started 11th again (two places above GOTMAXPOWER this time), with the mindset that this was a reset and a possible chance to make amends for that spin. On one hand, since I was placed firmly between two Supras, there was a chance, I said to myself, that I would probably be punted at the first corner...
...and punted I was by the French car starting behind. Fortunately, I was able to break away for a very short while when GOTMAXPOWER muscled his way past, though soon I dropped a few places again as I felt it was not worth trying to compromise GOTMAXPOWER and the McLaren behind him. Another shuffle, another big scare as I launch over the inner kerb at Metzgesfeld. Held it this time, but lost another two places with a black and purple Mercedes in hot pursuit. Got slipstreamed by him and the South African driver, who by this point had defected to the Supra camp. Eventually got back in front of the Merc twice when he dipped two wheels onto the dirt coming out of Wehrseifen and ran wide through Mutkurve.
Trying to maintain 14th was already going to be a tall order, since by the time we reached the "Swallow's Tail" the gap between ourselves and the Merc was only between 5 and 6 tenths. And when I thought I'd learnt to take the mini Karussell properly again... it happens. Had the right speed this time, but lost traction over the concrete which sends me fishtailing into a full 360! Twice now I've binned it there. What's going on?! Is it the tyres? Is it my brake balance? Has all that effort to push and keep up hurt my rear Mediums badly enough for them to give out? Anyway, a Red Bull Peugeot slipstreams past along Döttinger Höhe, but he gets it wrong at the final turns! Saw a gap open up around the outside, went for it... and clawed back 16th by just over 45-hundredths!
At this point, I was genuinely feeling tired and fed up with not only the power disparity, but also the self-inflicted mistakes that threw me off course more than once in the last two lobbies. The time was right to rest, move away from the racing and focus on a few other tasks, among them an extra qualifying session where I set a new personal best qualifying time of 8:09.317. Not far off the mid-8:07 I pulled off in the WRX, and not something which I was confident I would beat in the Supra after a quick sample demonstrating it to be less agile and assertive through the bends.
18:00 EMEA
Came back a little refreshed for the 18:00, lining up 14th behind a lot of runners in the early-to-mid 8:00s range. For this, I experimented with setting my brake balance further forward from -3 to -5 in an attempt to cure the mini Karussell problem, and believed that going back to a more conservative approach would help now that I didn't have the stress of being bunched up with the Supras.
That being said, I was wise enough to avoid being divebombed by a GReddy-liveried example at the first hairpin, which was enough to give me a break and the chance to shadow the group for 10th-13th places in peace. The pressure was still there, though, courtesy of a few small mistakes and the #12 Spaniard who worked his way past through Kesselchen. When another Supra - the #13 British car in default livery - also passed along Döttinger Höhe, my initial assumption was that I would find myself at the back again, once the South African in the #19 car reeled me in. That was not to happen, however, as the #19 quits upon picking up a random 'Barrier Collision' penalty (I assume it was actually for going over the kerb at the Schumacher-S, but still, very weird). With the GReddy car way down the order, that meant that I could do no worse than 16th... hopefully.
As soon as we hit the Nordschleife again, chaos ensues. The #6 Supra spins out. 15th. The sister #12 car and the #20 Porsche try to go side-by-side through Eschbach, but find themselves in the walls and on the grass. Momentarily, the #20 pulls across to stop me passing, but I get the cutback as he runs wide on his dirty tyres. 14th. The #12 loses it on the kerb. By the last rollercoaster stretch, we are up to 13th. The #2 Supra running in 3rd goes onto the grass at Galgenkopf and quits. 12th. The #10 Peugeot launches it over the Galgenkopf kerb. Now's the chance to catch his tow and slingshot past on the final run to Tiergarten...
11th. At this point, I thought this would be the best we'd be able to manage. There was still a chance the Peugeot could catch us out into the braking zone, as the Mercedes tried to do in the 15:00, so I did my best to cover my position while making sure not to go in too hot for the final two corners. That was when I spotted yellow flags and another car in the tyre stacks. It was the #13 Supra - the #19 driver couldn't control his sister machine and wiped him out there and then.
That's it! This is it! The Peugeot twitches and has to drop back - he can't challenge us anymore!
10th is ours!
This afternoon's session was tense, exhausting and at times exasperating. Sparks flew as brightly as those kicking up from the track surface. But despite all of the setbacks, the Alfa excelled at being a nippy and easy-to-drive machine in the same mould as the WRX. More so than I expected at A+/S level, actually. Could be down to the Mediums; could be down to me transferring the experience picked up from the other Nordschleife/24H combos I've run (including the Tomahawk Super Lap which still melts my brain thinking about it!). Could also be a result of the last few Daily B/C/Road to GT7 races I've tried, who knows?
If these were to be my last Daily Races before my GT7 steelbook (+ digital PS4 voucher) turns up, then so be it. This particular Alfa has clocked over 3,700 in-game miles since I first received it back in 2017 (I think it was a gift car, can't quite remember), and what better way to bookend both stages of its GT Sport career than with another top 10 finish earnt through care, persistence and picking up other drivers' pieces at the right opportunity. Would I be able to repeat this later in the week? If the last Sardegna A combo has anything to prove, it's that the delta times will keep dropping and there's less chance of me being able to move further up unless I whip out a super lap in the meta car. I tried the Supra... but for once I don't think I can extract its potential as well as I can with the Alfa.
.
