- 30
- United Kingdom
- TOM-T-5
So I'm finally going for it.. The Le Mans 24hr is one of 3 races I am yet to complete in GT5 (the other 2 being Tsukuba 9hr + Nurb 24). I've debated whether to do this race several times before, and always either thought better of it, or given in after 1-2 hours. However now my desire to get to level 40 has drawn me to this event.
To keep myself interested and involved I've decided to write a nice little race report, commenting about on track action, a battle against boredom... and other general stuff I encounter.
Please feel free to leave hints and tips and any other advice. Everything is appreciated.
So, onto the race itself.. I'm racing an Audi R8, bog standard, with little testing just to keep things interesting. The field consists of a couple of vipers, and a variety of other group C/prototypes, which I'm sure will all be mentioned throughout my report. Starting with a DS3, and will use a DFGT for longer stints.
STINT 1 - Good slipstream battle to start things off. odd being back on a DS3, short shifting to avoid any early drama, and settling into a rhythm. Another R8 is running up front, and by the end of Lap 2 we're side by side. 1 lap later, and the rear tyres are struggling, and I pit at the end of Lap 4. I emerge from the pits behind a Toyota GT One, he messes up Tertre Rouge and I pass him going onto the straight. The field in front all pit at the end of Lap 5 and I retake the lead by 7 seconds. The next few laps unfold without drama, and again I pit after 4 laps, and suspend for some pizza!
STINT 2 - Settled into the race now and running rather well, the next couple of tyre stints see me gently pulling away until I have a 23 second lead. I've been trying the RH and RM tyre, to see if I can gain anywhere on strategy. Both tyres are lasting 4 laps at the moment, although its hard to be smooth on a DS3.
An hour and a half into the race, trouble! While focusing on lapping the McLaren F1, I miss the pit entrance, and by the start of the straight, my rear tyres are toast. and the rest of the lap becomes a wild fight against a snaking car. My lead is gone instantly, and by the time the 5m27s lap is over... I'm back in 5th place.
The car looks a complete mess after a lap of bouncing off the guard rails, and a new set of RM tyres feels like heaven. Over the next two tyre stints, I pass the Toyota GT One under braking for Mulsanne, The Bentley gives way at indianapolis, and I move up to second when I dive past the Pescarolo C60 at the Ford Chicane. I'm now 2 hours into the race, and thoroughly enjoying it.
1 More tyre stint, and I'm back on the tail of the lead R8, and I pass him when he pits. 1/10th of the way, plenty to go!
STINT 3 - Just counting up the laps now and trying to pass the time. Somethign quite odd has happened though... The 2nd place R8 seemed to run out of fuel, and spent half a lap crawling around at 50... however, after he pitted, he continued crawling around the track. He pits every lap, but proceeds in just crawling around. This means that I'm now completely out of sigh of any other cars, and as the sun begins to go down, I go a lap ahead.
Nothing much is happening at this stage of the race apart from lapping the occasional car, and a spectacular transition from day to night. Probably one of the best parts of the game visually, anybody that hasn't tried it really should.
5 Hours in now, nearly 2 laps ahead, and taking another break, just another 19 hours to count down.
STINT 4 - Next few hours have been pretty uneventful, few thrills and spills lapping traffic, but altogether a clean run through the darkness.
8 hours in, and now the Bentley is also crawling round like its ran out of petrol, just like the R8, it pits every lap but still goes slow. I'm now 6 laps ahead, and the boredoms starting to kick in.
10 hours in, and its starting to rain, moisture rising by 3-4% per lap, so after a few stints on slicks, I switch to inters. Its soon fully wet, but the inters still provide the best pace. The AI are agonisingly slow now, and I'm lapping cars quicker than ever even though my lap times are quite inconsistent. Can't really remember much else from this part of the race.
13 or so hours in, 10 laps ahead, and I'm starting to see some light from east side of the circuit now, so it looks like I've survived the night, Had a big crash soon after when I came across the Slow moving pair of the R8 + Speed 8 side by side at the porsche curves long right hander. The car is such a mess, with nearly all of the paintwork scuffed off from different excursions and misadventures. I was really bored at this stage, so decided to complete hours 13-16 after quite a bit of alcohol. Don't recall many major events, but I've retained my gap at the front, and I suspend. 2/3 of the way done.
STINT 5 - Most of the race is behind me now, so there's definitely no going back. With the R8 + Bentley still lapping slowly, and the AI lapping incredibly slow in the rain, I'm left completely unchallenged on the circuit and it's become a tedious crawl to the finish. Although I have suspended the race a few times, the R8 continues to lap slowly, and the Bentley will also do so after a couple of stints. Must have lapped the R8 at least 50 times now.
Hour 18, and the rain is decreasing! The track dries much quicker than it got wet, and it seems as though the last 5 hours will be made even more dull. Time for some music.
Hour 19, Such a grind! been trying to think of driving games I can do while racing, but havent really thought of anything that's passed the time quickly. Did 2 consecutive laps that were identical which was pretty cool/weird.
Hour 20, The end is in sight ..... yet still far away. What has struck me doing this race is just how awesome this track really is. Every corner takes some learning, and some are very unforgiving. Truely one of the world's greatest circuits.
Hour 21, The clock just seems to be getting slower and slower. must. stay. awake.
Hour 22, This hour has escaped my memory.
Hour 23, I'm now mathematically safe. The race is won, yet not over. Left the room for a while just to run down the clock. Annnnnndddd....
IT'S OVER!
I cross the line 1.3 seconds after the 24 hour mark, and I slump back in my seat and relax. All done!
The £££ + XP are mine... And I'm now on the brink of Lvl.40
Impressions on the race
First of all, anybody that plays GT5 and only sticks to 3-5 lap daytime sprint races are missing out so much. I was lucky enough to go through every combination of track conditions and daylight through my race, and it really is one of the best features of GT5.
Was the race worth it? probably, yes it was a grind, but it was also enjoyable to an extent.
Would I do it again? No, After the 16 hour mark, it became such a grind, It was only my desire to get to Lvl.40 which drove me to it.
My only 2 races left are the Tsukuba 9hr, and the Nurb 24, and to be honest, I doubt I will ever complete either of them. 9 Hours of Tsukuba seems enough to drive anybody insane. The Nurb 24 just wouldn't seem worth it after reaching lvl.40.
Lastly, Thanks to the people that commented and got involved, feel free to continue posting your 24hr experiences!
Tom
To keep myself interested and involved I've decided to write a nice little race report, commenting about on track action, a battle against boredom... and other general stuff I encounter.
Please feel free to leave hints and tips and any other advice. Everything is appreciated.
So, onto the race itself.. I'm racing an Audi R8, bog standard, with little testing just to keep things interesting. The field consists of a couple of vipers, and a variety of other group C/prototypes, which I'm sure will all be mentioned throughout my report. Starting with a DS3, and will use a DFGT for longer stints.
STINT 1 - Good slipstream battle to start things off. odd being back on a DS3, short shifting to avoid any early drama, and settling into a rhythm. Another R8 is running up front, and by the end of Lap 2 we're side by side. 1 lap later, and the rear tyres are struggling, and I pit at the end of Lap 4. I emerge from the pits behind a Toyota GT One, he messes up Tertre Rouge and I pass him going onto the straight. The field in front all pit at the end of Lap 5 and I retake the lead by 7 seconds. The next few laps unfold without drama, and again I pit after 4 laps, and suspend for some pizza!
STINT 2 - Settled into the race now and running rather well, the next couple of tyre stints see me gently pulling away until I have a 23 second lead. I've been trying the RH and RM tyre, to see if I can gain anywhere on strategy. Both tyres are lasting 4 laps at the moment, although its hard to be smooth on a DS3.
An hour and a half into the race, trouble! While focusing on lapping the McLaren F1, I miss the pit entrance, and by the start of the straight, my rear tyres are toast. and the rest of the lap becomes a wild fight against a snaking car. My lead is gone instantly, and by the time the 5m27s lap is over... I'm back in 5th place.
The car looks a complete mess after a lap of bouncing off the guard rails, and a new set of RM tyres feels like heaven. Over the next two tyre stints, I pass the Toyota GT One under braking for Mulsanne, The Bentley gives way at indianapolis, and I move up to second when I dive past the Pescarolo C60 at the Ford Chicane. I'm now 2 hours into the race, and thoroughly enjoying it.
1 More tyre stint, and I'm back on the tail of the lead R8, and I pass him when he pits. 1/10th of the way, plenty to go!
STINT 3 - Just counting up the laps now and trying to pass the time. Somethign quite odd has happened though... The 2nd place R8 seemed to run out of fuel, and spent half a lap crawling around at 50... however, after he pitted, he continued crawling around the track. He pits every lap, but proceeds in just crawling around. This means that I'm now completely out of sigh of any other cars, and as the sun begins to go down, I go a lap ahead.
Nothing much is happening at this stage of the race apart from lapping the occasional car, and a spectacular transition from day to night. Probably one of the best parts of the game visually, anybody that hasn't tried it really should.
5 Hours in now, nearly 2 laps ahead, and taking another break, just another 19 hours to count down.
STINT 4 - Next few hours have been pretty uneventful, few thrills and spills lapping traffic, but altogether a clean run through the darkness.
8 hours in, and now the Bentley is also crawling round like its ran out of petrol, just like the R8, it pits every lap but still goes slow. I'm now 6 laps ahead, and the boredoms starting to kick in.
10 hours in, and its starting to rain, moisture rising by 3-4% per lap, so after a few stints on slicks, I switch to inters. Its soon fully wet, but the inters still provide the best pace. The AI are agonisingly slow now, and I'm lapping cars quicker than ever even though my lap times are quite inconsistent. Can't really remember much else from this part of the race.
13 or so hours in, 10 laps ahead, and I'm starting to see some light from east side of the circuit now, so it looks like I've survived the night, Had a big crash soon after when I came across the Slow moving pair of the R8 + Speed 8 side by side at the porsche curves long right hander. The car is such a mess, with nearly all of the paintwork scuffed off from different excursions and misadventures. I was really bored at this stage, so decided to complete hours 13-16 after quite a bit of alcohol. Don't recall many major events, but I've retained my gap at the front, and I suspend. 2/3 of the way done.
STINT 5 - Most of the race is behind me now, so there's definitely no going back. With the R8 + Bentley still lapping slowly, and the AI lapping incredibly slow in the rain, I'm left completely unchallenged on the circuit and it's become a tedious crawl to the finish. Although I have suspended the race a few times, the R8 continues to lap slowly, and the Bentley will also do so after a couple of stints. Must have lapped the R8 at least 50 times now.
Hour 18, and the rain is decreasing! The track dries much quicker than it got wet, and it seems as though the last 5 hours will be made even more dull. Time for some music.
Hour 19, Such a grind! been trying to think of driving games I can do while racing, but havent really thought of anything that's passed the time quickly. Did 2 consecutive laps that were identical which was pretty cool/weird.
Hour 20, The end is in sight ..... yet still far away. What has struck me doing this race is just how awesome this track really is. Every corner takes some learning, and some are very unforgiving. Truely one of the world's greatest circuits.
Hour 21, The clock just seems to be getting slower and slower. must. stay. awake.
Hour 22, This hour has escaped my memory.
Hour 23, I'm now mathematically safe. The race is won, yet not over. Left the room for a while just to run down the clock. Annnnnndddd....
IT'S OVER!
I cross the line 1.3 seconds after the 24 hour mark, and I slump back in my seat and relax. All done!
The £££ + XP are mine... And I'm now on the brink of Lvl.40
Impressions on the race
First of all, anybody that plays GT5 and only sticks to 3-5 lap daytime sprint races are missing out so much. I was lucky enough to go through every combination of track conditions and daylight through my race, and it really is one of the best features of GT5.
Was the race worth it? probably, yes it was a grind, but it was also enjoyable to an extent.
Would I do it again? No, After the 16 hour mark, it became such a grind, It was only my desire to get to Lvl.40 which drove me to it.
My only 2 races left are the Tsukuba 9hr, and the Nurb 24, and to be honest, I doubt I will ever complete either of them. 9 Hours of Tsukuba seems enough to drive anybody insane. The Nurb 24 just wouldn't seem worth it after reaching lvl.40.
Lastly, Thanks to the people that commented and got involved, feel free to continue posting your 24hr experiences!
Tom
Last edited:
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Ah Well...
