Gran Turismo 7 Custom Race thread

[Sir Crashalot]

I wanna set up some Gr4 races and I wonder which settings to use to get "realistic", competitive races.
Race duration will be ~20-30 minutes and I don't wanna take P1 on lap 3 and do a time trial for the rest of the race.

AI will be set to "professionally" ofc. But I wonder about "BoP" and "Boost". Will the former one alone be enough to make races competitive? Or shall I turn on "Boost" also? I've read a lot about Boost but it seems like it's always just guessing and nobody really knows how it works/what exactly it does.

 

[ItzRacing]

I have been working on uploading all of my custom races from this year onto YouTube, mainly so I have something to watch back while keeping free space in the game. But I also thought I would share them with everyone on here to check out! So far I have the first 2 events of my custom race championships uploaded and slowly working on uploading the 3rd Event this week in between catching up on recordings.Just realised there is a limit to the amount of videos I can include in a message so I'll just start off with sharing my Super Formula and V8 Development Series races.

Spoiler: Super Formula Series Round 1

Spoiler: V8 Development Series Round 1

 

[Theufcveteran]

I wanna set up some Gr4 races and I wonder which settings to use to get "realistic", competitive races.
Race duration will be ~20-30 minutes and I don't wanna take P1 on lap 3 and do a time trial for the rest of the race.

AI will be set to "professionally" ofc. But I wonder about "BoP" and "Boost". Will the former one alone be enough to make races competitive? Or shall I turn on "Boost" also? I've read a lot about Boost but it seems like it's always just guessing and nobody really knows how it works/what exactly it does.

Don't use BoP if you want the absolute most competitive event. Generally most un-BoP'd Gr.4 cars are in a similar PP range (the modern ones especially) but you can tune them all to the same value if you want.

Un-BoP'd Gr.4 and the ECU (Fully Customisable Computer) percentage at 95/96% for your car only should be pretty competitive.

To do this, leave your/the AI's car at 100% ECU/power limiter percentage. Once you're in the pre-race menu, go into the car settings and change your ECU/power limiter percentage.

If it's a one-make while using the "Select from Garage" option, do not go back into the custom grid menu within the custom race settings once you've set your car's ECU to a different value, or else the AI will then adopt your car's new ECU percentage, and you will be faster again in a straight line.

The AI has a bug where, after the first corner, they only use 97% throttle, and so they are effectively down by a chunk of BHP.

The issue with BoP is that it disables tuning so you can't adjust the ECU percentage. If you could BoP and still reduce your ECU percentage, it would be great, but alas. Some kind of custom race override would be nice if possible.

I recommend:

Boost Weak
95/96% ECU/Power Limiter percentage (depends on the car, slower cars sometimes need less of a reduction, faster cars often require more)

Boost Weak brings the field closer and reduces (I believe) the insane rubberbanding by the AI in which they slow to a crawl if they're too far ahead.

95/96% ECU/power limiter for your car is a good general value that will make it more competitive in many races.

Note that the power limiter hits torque harder than the ECU, so generally I reduce the ECU only if possible.

But a combo of ECU and power limiter can get you a little more BHP if the ECU reduction only isn't landing you in a sweet spot.

 

[Sir Crashalot]

Don't use BoP if you want the absolute most competitive event. Generally most un-BoP'd Gr.4 cars are in a similar PP range (the modern ones especially) but you can tune them all to the same value if you want.

Un-BoP'd Gr.4 and the ECU (Fully Customisable Computer) percentage at 95/96% for your car only should be pretty competitive.

To do this, leave your/the AI's car at 100% ECU/power limiter percentage. Once you're in the pre-race menu, go into the car settings and change your ECU/power limiter percentage.

If it's a one-make while using the "Select from Garage" option, do not go back into the custom grid menu within the custom race settings once you've set your car's ECU to a different value, or else the AI will then adopt your car's new ECU percentage, and you will be faster again in a straight line.

The AI has a bug where, after the first corner, they only use 97% throttle, and so they are effectively down by a chunk of BHP.

The issue with BoP is that it disables tuning so you can't adjust the ECU percentage. If you could BoP and still reduce your ECU percentage, it would be great, but alas. Some kind of custom race override would be nice if possible.

I recommend:

Boost Weak
95/96% ECU/Power Limiter percentage (depends on the car, slower cars sometimes need less of a reduction, faster cars often require more)

Boost Weak brings the field closer and reduces (I believe) the insane rubberbanding by the AI in which they slow to a crawl if they're too far ahead.

95/96% ECU/power limiter for your car is a good general value that will make it more competitive in many races.

Note that the power limiter hits torque harder than the ECU, so generally I reduce the ECU only if possible.

But a combo of ECU and power limiter can get you a little more BHP if the ECU reduction only isn't landing you in a sweet spot.

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer!
Didn't find much time yesterday but I did a quick test. 5 laps on High Speed Ring, me driving the Nissan Silvia.
With BoP and Boost disabled I finished P4. Not ideal, since I wanna do longer races and this felt like a guaranteed P1 with a few laps more.
Without BoP, Boost weak and power limited to 96% I finished 7th, just close in front of a pack of 3. That means one little mistake and I would have finished 10th place. AI felt faster, race felt harder.
I really thought it would be the other way around, 'cause the Silvia should have an clear advantage without BoP because of the relatively low weight

Well, so far, so good. But ofc that was just one short race, will have to do some more testing.

 

[Theufcveteran]

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer!
Didn't find much time yesterday but I did a quick test. 5 laps on High Speed Ring, me driving the Nissan Silvia.
With BoP and Boost disabled I finished P4. Not ideal, since I wanna do longer races and this felt like a guaranteed P1 with a few laps more.
Without BoP, Boost weak and power limited to 96% I finished 7th, just close in front of a pack of 3. That means one little mistake and I would have finished 10th place. AI felt faster, race felt harder.
I really thought it would be the other way around, 'cause the Silvia should have an clear advantage without BoP because of the relatively low weight

Well, so far, so good. But ofc that was just one short race, will have to do some more testing.

No worries, mate! Glad it helped with the field. The game genuinely becomes fun when it's all balanced (it helps that you're close to the pack at the start as well I find).

By the way, all, the career post is up!

TheUFCVeteran's Gran Turismo 7 Custom Career - Classic GT Style Progression (1000+ Races, Motorsport Journey, Missions, More)

Welcome to my custom career mode for Gran Turismo 7. Developed over the course of two years, I have attempted to plug a hole left by Polyphony Digital and utilise the in-game tools to create a classic GT style career mode, with a few twists for a fresh experience. I have to give a huge, huge...

www.gtplanet.net

 

[Sir Crashalot]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

 

[Theufcveteran]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

First race in the series is a random order, the following races have a starting grid determined by the previous race results. So race 1's results set the grid for race 2, and so on. Though you could go RNG like you said and it would definitely mix things up.

 

[RCKakashi14]

Some highlights for the Ferrari F8 Challenge custom race:

You can read more of them here.

 

[ItzRacing]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

I have set up ‘qualifying’ sessions in Endurance races. I run the races and then go through the replays and find the fastest lap times of each driver to determine a starting line up. For most series I determine the order on the drivers standings and if I have a 20 minute session I do 10 minutes with the grid set one way and then flip the grid and do another 10 minutes to give all cars a chance. Other series I have run where they are 2 car teams I line them up as if they are leaving the pits in garage order and just run a single session.

 

[Sir Crashalot]

First race in the series is a random order, the following races have a starting grid determined by the previous race results. So race 1's results set the grid for race 2, and so on. Though you could go RNG like you said and it would definitely mix things up.

I guess that's indeed the best solution! There would be another solution but it takes way too much time: Setup a 1 lap custom race with yourself and one other car and use the lap time of the other car as qualifying time. But on Nürburgring 24 that would take ~3 hours for 20 cars, so nope.

 

[Sir Crashalot]

I have set up ‘qualifying’ sessions in Endurance races. I run the races and then go through the replays and find the fastest lap times of each driver to determine a starting line up. For most series I determine the order on the drivers standings and if I have a 20 minute session I do 10 minutes with the grid set one way and then flip the grid and do another 10 minutes to give all cars a chance. Other series I have run where they are 2 car teams I line them up as if they are leaving the pits in garage order and just run a single session.

Didn't think of this. Thx!

 

[pritchyTim]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

I start from the back and then do cumulative points, you can make a copy of the tracker I use in here (“Championship” tab) to help — use the ‘sort’ function on the points column as you go along. While you can of course do a reverse order to preserve fairness, I sort Z-A (normal ‘standings’ order) as it not only gets me a few different experiences (my best grids are relatively impossible for me to win from 20th in fewer than 15 laps so I start the first two-to-four races from different places) but also informs my next BoP iteration by exposing the better/worse AI cars throughout a series.

By the way, all, the career post is up!

TheUFCVeteran's Gran Turismo 7 Custom Career - Classic GT Style Progression (1000+ Races, Motorsport Journey, Missions, More)

Welcome to my custom career mode for Gran Turismo 7. Developed over the course of two years, I have attempted to plug a hole left by Polyphony Digital and utilise the in-game tools to create a classic GT style career mode, with a few twists for a fresh experience. I have to give a huge, huge...

www.gtplanet.net

You madman, this is BONKERS!!! Thank you for the effort and sharing your passion with us. As you know, you’re a prime inspiration for about a thousand hours of my life and counting, each one of them an absolute pleasure. Can’t imagine my pace will slow anytime soon with this treasure trove of content you’ve made. Thanks again and see you in the Championship League!

 

[Batschisane52]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

First race random. All other races reverse grid according to the result of the race before...

The car I drive usually starts from last position...but I also did championships where I also used the reversed grid solution for my car...

 

[05XR8]

Another question: How do you guys (especially those who do championships) deal with the start position? I thought about RNG for the first race and a reversed starting order based on the result of the first race for the other races.

I start from the last or 11th in single class. Depending on which class I choose in a Multi-class race, I’ll from last of the top tier or last of the slower tier. I’ll sometimes start from 6th(just due to the number 6 being my favourite number).

 

[Niko-H]

I may or may not have gotten a little carried away with my JGTC collection...
Excuse the RX-7 LM and Nismo GT-R LM replicas, those are for a separate project.

I also created a little spreadsheet for what schemes/cars to use for each season. Maybe it'll be useful for someone! It is not 100% faithful (I tried to cut down on duplicates and use one version of the same scheme rather than having 10 almost identical Calsonic liveries in my collection). I added a few suggested field fillers (highlighted in blue) that are not accurate to that season - but needed to get to a 20-car grid.

BoP is a work in progress but early testing was encouraging. I need to study this thread a bit more!

 

[Arkseven]

Good stuff! Were you using boost? I am curious how you managed to have such close battles with them. My AI can either only trail by 0.5 secs (boost on) or fall way behind (boost off).

I had boost set on weak and BoP turned off. I don't think I'm right, but there seems to be "something else" with SuperGT cars. I don't know what is it, but all my SuperGT races are fairly close, at least between 1st to ~8th place. Maybe it's not related to the cars, but with the race length?

When I do Gr.3 sprint races, the first 3-4 cars always quickly open +10 seconds gaps.

edit2: Found this screenshot from my last Gr3 race. Same settings from the SuperGT race - 1x tire and fuel, boost weak, BoP off, heavy damage on

​

Definitely need to spend more time tweaking them

 

[Chikane_GTR]

Finally finished my Toyota GT-1 vs McLaren F1 GTR '97 vs Mercedes CLK LM 1998.

6 - Toyota GT-1
7 - McLaren F1 GTR
7 - Mercedes CLK LM

Test race results. all 20 cars within 15 seconds not bad.👍

Race gifs.

 

[RCKakashi14]

So here are some of my thoughts so far on the Custom Race feature of Gran Turismo 7:

As you may be aware, I am writing racing stories based on the game for 12 years. Yes, 12 years and counting despite some roadblocks along the way (biggest one would be the unknown banning of my primary PSN account that made me restart the game using a different one). The Custom Race feature is, arguably, the BEST feature the game offers. One can simply make a fantasy league or championship (I even have a grid full of F1 drivers driving modified road cars with their team liveries) and spend hours of fun.

For my writing, this has been a HUGE asset for me. No need for me to ask volunteers to come up with a car with a specific livery and then being aware of their time zones and availability. I can simply come up with a race at any time I wish. Because of that, it had gave me another push for me to resume my work. Imagine asking for 20 volunteers.

Though of course, there are some kinks:

For one, I cannot "direct" the A.I. to be in a specific position and pace. I am the one that should be pulling the work. For best results, I set the boost function to "Weak" for close quarters racing if the plot demands it. Second, most A.I. for some reason would run on less fuel especially at the end of a race, making them pit at the second to the last lap, mostly ruining chances of a close, picturesque finish. To prevent that, I have to DROP my pace and let the A.I. overtake me then make an effort to win and that kind of finish will be possible.

And of course, the less-than-stellar payout. Though it had been improved thanks to the Circuit Experience bonuses, it still isn't enough for the effort.



If it weren't for this feature, I would have given up on the game on its first year, truth be told.

 

[Stephan]

And here are the results of Round 2.

Now for Round 3. Played as Erik Comas of NISMO.



Since this is a high speed track, it meant the NSXes are oofed for this round and indeed it was when the highest placed NSX that finished on this race was the RAYBRIG NSX while the other three finished P7-P9. The one that really showed up during this was Masahiko Kondo of Toyota Team Cerumo as he went on a tear starting at lap 21 to lap 29 where he completed his run by passing me for the win as I forgot to fix my car after hitting a wall so hard that it caused mechanical damage and it caused me a win.

Lap 21 (he passed Akira Iida of RAYBRIG)



Then he passed Hasemi of Hasemi Motorsport for P3.



And he completed his surge by passing me for the win.



Results of round 3.

 

[pritchyTim]

I added ‘default tire’ as a column to my “Full Car List” spreadsheet, contained within my GT3 (sig) and @Theufcveteran’s Custom Career spreadsheets. Could be useful for your future custom grids…

 

[RCKakashi14]

Had to overcut three laps keeping the Inters in check.

You can read more about it here.

 

[05XR8]

First time I’ve done a proper Group A JTCC enduro(now that we have the R31). Had lots of fun. Based on the results from the real event

1989 AJTCC - round 5

World Wide Touring Car Racing results 1952-1993

touringcarracing.net

I was actually racing for the full two hours. Pit stop on lap 34. I was surprised how frugal the AI cars were. My AI “teammate” in the #37 Supra pit the same lap I did. AI usually burn fuel much quicker. That didn’t happen.
Top 10 cars were pretty much nose to tail until the pit stops. Even dispatching the Division 3 Civics and Corollas(Celicas).
With three laps to go, the P2 R31 went for the lead at the back part of the circuit. Nearly got me with late braking on the outside of the corner! I held on down the back straight. Love Group A. Best cars in the game, for me.

Also enjoying my JTCC/BTCC touring cars. Now that I can place the EG in the mix.

 

[24HuresdeLoL]

A (surprisingly) good race w/AI between a BMW and a Ferrari at Red Bull Ring
BMW POV

Ferrari POV
​

 

[Stephan]

Now for Round 3. Played as Erik Comas of NISMO.

Onto Round 4 next. Played as Osamu Nakako of Mugen X Dome Project team.

Race was uneventful at best until the last two laps where me and the Hasemi Motorsport R34 went at it for the win while Hideki Noda and his Cerumo Supra settled for 3rd.

Race begun with Keiichi Tsuchiya being in pole position although he had to settle for P5.



And here's me and Tanaka battling for the win.



And then the race got settled when I made a pass on Tanaka to clinch a win for the Mugen squad.

 

[05XR8]

Replicated a 1994 JTCC round at Tsukuba

https://au.motorsport.com/general/news/tsukuba-results/1653333/

Crazy quick Boost Weak AI. Actually, this grid of cars have been perfect for the programming. I did 5 lap races at Autopolis, Suzuka GP and Fuji. All resulted with me finishing out of the top 10.
With the Tsukuba race, I wanted to see at want point the AI slow down for me to gain on the leaders. It didn’t happen. Took me to Lap 40 to move into the top 10.

The gap to the leaders went from 9 seconds at the start to 18 seconds at half distance. Thought I’d be closing the gap after that. Nope! I was actually worried I’d be lapped.
Anyway, my lap times were constant 1 min 1 second range. My fastest in clean air for the last couple laps was a 1:00.918.

AI were only dropping back because of their own battles when I passed for position. Constant swaps and dives and bumper to bumper racing. I could t get past unless an AI ahead made a move on another car. No early braking by the AI either at any of my races. Good stuff for this grid.

 

[suomi1]

I had a lot of fun with my LMGT3 grid, and since there are only 18 cars in WEC I had one spot left for me and another one for a GR010 in the front to break a bit the rubber banding effect.

Spoiler

 

[RC F]

So, I created a Class 1 grid with the Super GT cars from 2016 (and their smaller rear wings), as well as the Audi RS5 DTM. Five cars for each manufacturer. And probably no more grid starts, since the Audi really is at an advantage when it comes to this.

Anyway, I'm now wondering what's the best percentage concerning my car's ECU and/or power restrictor in order to not pass the AI easily on long straights and such. Anyone's got any ideas?

 

[05XR8]

Embarrassing I was over rotating at Turn 1 exit(twice) and the final corner exit(twice).

 

[RCKakashi14]

Final round of the fictional "Ferrari F8 Challenge" taking place at Sardegna.



Kevin Magnussen takes pole, but...

Blanchard snatches it quickly on the first corner.

Magnussen pressuring the leader.

Marelli in the red F8 struggling to keep up with the top three.

 

[A_Higher_Place]

Inspired by the Spa race today with an older GT mixed field, I threw a bunch of mine together for 9 laps. Lots of battle throughout! Great fun and really felt like Gran Turismo!