Gran Turismo Sport's Final Official Series - Road to Gran Turismo 7 - Starts February 5

[NekoPufferPPP]

I tried the Mercedes AMG, got a 1:55.5xx, most I could squeeze out of it. Tried the DBR9, same deal, but it feels much more stable, so there's still something that can be done to it. I ended up giving it some rear toe-out to make it turn. The most important part seems to be leveling the tyres with the road in turns, i.e. optimizing camber angles, which I keep checking in replay photo mode by zooming in from afar.

Basic tuning guidelines for FR seem to be: max rear height and stiffness, zero rear toe-in as baseline, max aero (reduce rear if understeery), LSD 5-60-5. This keeps the car on the edge of grip, i.e. the point where the tires "bite" the most.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Anyone done any early practice for next Saturday?

My best total lobby time at the moment (including traffic, incidents and mistakes) is a 33:03.467 in the Mustang Gr.3 (2H-7S-7M). Has a handy power advantage over the meta DBR9 while feeling consistently more comfortable and stable than the MR cars I considered at one stage (4C, NSX, Citroën, F1 GTR).

Qualifying best is a 1:57.090 with only minor adjustments to anti-roll bars and aero. Been attempting to tweak the Mustang further so it can dip into the 1:56s or even 1:55s, but no luck so far. Currently around 3.7-3.8 seconds off the top EMEA times, so will have to wait and see whether I'll be committing to this as a possible one-off.

Check for performance under dirty air. I know the meta with the maximum rake is horrible under dirty air.
I'm going Mustang too

 

[AstroVex]

Had my best lap yet with the Lancer at 1:56.5xx . I know there's room for improvement trying other cars, but I'm very confused with those tuning races so it might just be that one. Taking notes as I read this though, Lexus and Mustang sound interesting too 🌞

 

[05XR8]

Top times in the DBR9 in the 1:53s. I’m cruising along with a 1:58.208. Love the multiple tyre compound races. Should be an okay race.

 

[O604]

Top times in the DBR9 in the 1:53s. I’m cruising along with a 1:58.208. Love the multiple tyre compound races. Should be an okay race.

Turn 1 should be smooth sailing with cars on 3 different compounds and a grid start w/ false start.

I'm running the DBR9 too. Started out fighting the car, but really feeling it after tuning. As NekoPufferPPP mentioned above, camber (I copied off YT) made all the difference to me.

 

[stpatty]

A few laps in a tuned GT-R and I'm at 58.2 or something. What a race this is going to be. At least if people have accidents they'll go off the track rather than bounce off the walls like at Tokyo.

 

[GR33N]

Well I don't know where to post this really but I need your opinions. I don't take part in this series but watched Super GT's race on YouTube. In his final Top Split slot, he casually overtakes the guy in front in Qualy at the exit of the tunnel (around 19 min in the vid), like it was the "normal" thing to do.

My concern is that, given the HUGE community following him (worshiping I should say, he's a great YouTuber indeed...), he should act as a role model, not leading many within his public to questionable behaviour like this. And it's not the first time I see things like this on his channel, so I'm wondering how much of an impact this coud have on the overall sportsmanship on the game :/

I said something about that in the comments but got immediately attacked by a fanboy

 

[O604]

Well I don't know where to post this really but I need your opinions. I don't take part in this series but watched Super GT's race on YouTube. In his final Top Split slot, he casually overtakes the guy in front in Qualy at the exit of the tunnel (around 19 min in the vid), like it was the "normal" thing to do.

My concern is that, given the HUGE community following him (worshiping I should say, he's a great YouTuber indeed...), he should act as a role model, not leading many within his public to questionable behaviour like this. And it's not the first time I see things like this on his channel, so I'm wondering how much of an impact this coud have on the overall sportsmanship on the game :/

I said something about that in the comments but got immediately attacked by a fanboy

Overall he seems genuinely like he's trying to help people.

But he's also the one that encouraged people to create alts with starting with R4M_ . While funny to some, not smart to assume all your subs are responsible and sharing the joke the same way. The 1st time I took time away from GTS was when those R4M alts were popular.

 

[watto79]

Well I don't know where to post this really but I need your opinions. I don't take part in this series but watched Super GT's race on YouTube. In his final Top Split slot, he casually overtakes the guy in front in Qualy at the exit of the tunnel (around 19 min in the vid), like it was the "normal" thing to do.

My concern is that, given the HUGE community following him (worshiping I should say, he's a great YouTuber indeed...), he should act as a role model, not leading many within his public to questionable behaviour like this. And it's not the first time I see things like this on his channel, so I'm wondering how much of an impact this coud have on the overall sportsmanship on the game :/

I said something about that in the comments but got immediately attacked by a fanboy

It's not against any rules to overtake in qualifying and it wasn't a dirty move. I don't see the problem.
That said I would be annoyed if I was the one getting overtaken but that's all part of the quali system we have. If you don't have a slipstream then the car behind you may go for an overtake.
That's why I tend to qualify in as much space as I can find for myself.

 

[GR33N]

It's not against any rules to overtake in qualifying and it wasn't a dirty move. I don't see the problem.
That said I would be annoyed if I was the one getting overtaken but that's all part of the quali system we have. If you don't have a slipstream then the car behind you may go for an overtake.
That's why I tend to qualify in as much space as I can find for myself.

Thanks for answering.
I agree It's not against the rules but there's a sort of gentlemen agreement not to overtake during qualy, especially when the guy in front saves your lap after you made a mistake, like SGT does before the tunnel straight.
Without this implicite rule, qualfying would be even more of a mess if you had to "defend" during your lap, taking weird lines and stuff.
Moreover, when the guy in front doesn't have slipstream himself but still continues his lap, thus offering you a tow, the less you could do is bumpdrafting to help him out in return...

IMO he's just showing a bad example here and not helping the community.

 

[VulcanSpirit]

It's not against any rules to overtake in qualifying and it wasn't a dirty move. I don't see the problem.
That said I would be annoyed if I was the one getting overtaken but that's all part of the quali system we have. If you don't have a slipstream then the car behind you may go for an overtake.
That's why I tend to qualify in as much space as I can find for myself.

Had that exact thing happen to me when I attempted a mostly A/A+ test lobby at Suzuka earlier this evening. Resulted in me running wide and binning it at Degna 1, thus starting from the back, though luckily the lobby was reset after a multi-car pileup at the start.

Before that, I experimented first with a GT LM (nice handling, but can snap if you push it too aggressively), then with new settings for the Mustang based on @praiano63's Nordschleife tune.



My actual settings can be found below if anyone else wants to try them out for themselves:

The results were a new vehicle-best FP time of 1:56.991, a 1:58.200 in lobby qualifying and a 32:55.158 total race time on 2H-6S-8M. Would've comfortably shaved off a few more seconds had I not gone onto the runoff at Turns 1-2 towards the end, but still a major improvement with consistent lap times in both of my later stints.

The catch... the winning DBR9 was over a minute faster. Even those which I battled with had better pace thanks to the fact that I still can't get the Mustang to go flat out through the high-speed curves.

Still, nothing beats the Mustang for me in terms of comfort and consistency over a full distance. Especially for this race, I've prepared and shared an updated 'Vulcan Venator GT3' scheme for every Mustang driver to use. This comes with adjustments, new sponsor decals and regular Sport Mode-type numbers, with a few ideas carried over from an unfinished Blancpain variant that I never got round to completing.

Vulcan Venator GT3 R2 Edition 1.jpg

• VulcanSpirit
• Feb 9, 2022
• gr.3 gt sport livery editor mustang vulcan

Updated fantasy 'Vulcan Venator GT3' livery coinciding with the 'Road to GT7' series.

Vulcan Venator GT3 R2 Edition LE 3.png

• VulcanSpirit
• Feb 9, 2022
• gr.3 gt sport livery editor mustang vulcan

Updated fantasy 'Vulcan Venator GT3' livery coinciding with the 'Road to GT7' series.

Vulcan Venator GT3 R2 Edition LE 4.png

• VulcanSpirit
• Feb 9, 2022
• gr.3 gt sport livery editor mustang vulcan

Updated fantasy 'Vulcan Venator GT3' livery coinciding with the 'Road to GT7' series.

Livery link.

 

[GR33N]

Awesomely gorgeous livery! Worth 250 points at least

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Afaik every car has the same fuel tank, but i've never really paid attention if they're different, I guess the only way to find out for sure would be to compare refueling speeds between different cars with a specified refueling speed in the race. When you look at race details there's pit info and the refueling speed seems to usually be 7 litre/second.

But yeah, I just took the RX500 against a full field of GT40's (and @GOTMAXPOWER 's Raptor ) and came out with better fuel efficiency than all of them. Might be due to the fact the RX500 is faster than the GT40s on the straights, so I'm able to lift sooner as well...it's also lighter...I dunno, lotta factors at play, can't say for sure.

All the cars have 100L fuel tank. You can easily test this in custom lobby with 50x fuel and then timing the refuelling, minus 1 second (for the fuel hose to attach/detach), then multiply by 6 (the refuelling rate in lobby/offline is 6L/sec, a bit slower than FIA races' 7L/sec).

As for the fuel efficiency, I think the GT40 is better than expected because of the long gears. Engine RPM in this game is the biggest factor in fuel consumption, that's why short shifting is so OP in fuel saving races (even more so than fuel map or lift & coast).

 

[xMAXIx79]

I use my McLaren GTR F1 for that, i know he isn't the fastest one, but i love him.

 

[O604]

I was feeling pretty confident in a Gr.3 Suzuka combo when I first saw it. But lack of pace over the week has me nervous.

Random question. Do all car races start with the same fuel load for every car? Are there any races where starting fuel load is part of the strategy?

 

[05XR8]

One of my pet peeves at Suzuka, is when someone is so eager to get ahead of me. Either I let them go or they make the pass and then, don't have the pace they though they had.

 

[D_Dragline]

One of my pet peeves at Suzuka, is when someone is so eager to get ahead of me. Either I let them go or they make the pass and then, don't have the pace they though they had.

Yep. The scenario is always the same for me. A draft down the straight leads to said car being desperate to go past into T1. I then watch them botch the exit and the esses before they brake waaay too early for Degner 1&2, checking my run. By the time we hit the hairpin it’s chaos from the cars behind that have caught up.

So frustrating when you should have been at least a second clear of the mess.

 

[NevilleNobody]

I'll chime in with my 2c on tuning. I am a racing nut, always have been, I am no tuning genius but know more than the fundamentals.

Reality is though, all tuning will do is seperate the best even further from the pack. They have the time and inclination to keep tweaking away. I really don't see the point when you have so many cars to choose from. Tbh itd be far better idle they sorted out why 50pc of the cars are uncompetitive in groups 3 and 4.

Now manufavturers fia, stuck with one car,? I could maybe see conceding some ground there, maybe allow it.

But dailies, the whole point of dailies is for the time poor, middle-aged dudes with kids, mortgage, wife etc, just crazy busy, you can pick up the game and be racing in no time. Add tuning and this all goes to hell.

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

This guy finds all the best tunes... Dropped my time to 1:54.529 with this.

 

[O604]

This guy finds all the best tunes... Dropped my time to 1:54.529 with this.

I like the shift ratio on that one. But went back to using settings from another person for the balance.

But wow. Nice time. I'll try this tune again today. Thanks.

 

[05XR8]

Top 10 or 11 were DBR. Qualified on my trusted RH(2:01). Started 18/19. Pole set a 1:54. Couple cars ahead of me were only 1 second faster on RS. Must have had bad laps. Supra in 19th set a bad time.
Good start on RH and moved up to 15th. Pit Lap 1 for RM. Lap 2 for RS. Ran to Lap 9. Pit for RS til the end. Moved up a few spots and dropped one. Finished 12/19. Clean racing.

 

[RACECAR]

Did some practice and surprisingly, tire drop off isn't nearly as bad as I expected it despite the 6x tire wear.

1:57s are about as good as I can get (So not too far off my Suzuka 1000 pace then), strategy at the moment is toughing it out on the hards, pit on lap 7 for Mediums and then Lap 12 for softs. Having driven this on all 3 compounds, car feels good. I know I'm gonna get mugged on the standing starts as I just simply haven't mastered it, but hopefully turn 1 on lap 1 doesn't end up like my last two Nations Cup races.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Went with GT-R, slapped prairano's tune on it and adjusted the gearing a bit for the standing start.
Everyone in DBR9 except 3 people in Atenza, M3 and Beetle.
Quali 14th, strat 7M/1H/8S and finished 4th, 3 seconds off the podium
Everyone was very clean, and had some great close battles throughout 👍
Lots of people couldn't keep the DBR9 on track. AMS_Dood's tune is fast in time trial, but in a race situation consistency and comfort is more important. Especially on a track like Suzuka with grass and gravel everywhere. Don't bite off more than you can chew!

Good luck and have fun everyone

 

[VulcanSpirit]

So, if anyone watched Kie's stream last night, you might have noticed that I snuck in an extra racing simulation in the Mustang before the main event kicks off in EMEA. The lack of GT1 aero is still hurting my pace through the 'S's, Dunlop and 130R, but otherwise I am very satisfied with the consistency and stability I'm now getting.



1:57.181 in lobby qualifying (up on a 1:57.493 set in practice) and a total time of 32:50.968 on 7M-1H-8S. Still 53 seconds down on Kie in the DBR9, but as long as I keep well clear of the run-off areas I shouldn't be too disappointed.

 

[Stephan]

So I did the 17:00 session on my region and suffice to say I'm satisfied with the result. (Media heavy alert)

Qualifying didn't fare well for me as I qualified P10 in the race but this fault is on me as I'm not yet getting the needed pace for the NSX Gr.3.

But at that point it's all good to me as my goal for the two races I'll be competing on is to get a top 10 finish in both races.

Race begins and the initial sequence of events were....something. This also set a precedent on what I'm expecting for the entirety of the race.



After that I had a skirmish for P3 but my pace started to fall off due to the mediums with the pressure from the other drivers as they started in softs and I dropped off from P3 to P5 and after 6 laps of the mediums, I boxed for hards before the end of lap 6.

I managed to get my groove back when I was using the hards and managed to get back to P5 after 3/4 laps with this little dummy move I pulled on my fellow Filipino compatriot.



Before the end of lap 11 I pitted for softs and that's where I started to get my pace back and chase down P3.

Before I can catch up to P3 I had a good battle with P4 where he unleashed a good defense on me that was reminiscent of Alonso-Hamilton back in Hungary and I managed to get through on the last corner. As Nico Hulkenberg would say in this back in the Japanese GP 2016, "see ya later".



Then last lap came and this is where it got ugly for me as multiple mistakes pertaining to me accidentally hitting the dude costed me a chance at a podium. I did however gave up P3 as we entered the last corner by letting him through as my way of saying sorry for the incident and from there I finished P4.



Overall this race is alright and to me a P4 finish was more than enough good results especially on a car that I thought would not fare well on this race due to the circumstances involved. I would like to thank Ken Tagawa's NSX Gr.3 tune for making my NSX keep up with opposition.

Also re on the bet I mentioned before, because my friend saw the act of sportsmanship I did plus the result, he gave me a reprieve for the Alsace Gr.4 race where I can use any Gr.4 car.

 

[stpatty]

Went with GT-R, slapped prairano's tune on it and adjusted the gearing a bit for the standing start.
Everyone in DBR9 except 3 people in Atenza, M3 and Beetle.
Quali 14th, strat 7M/1H/8S and finished 4th, 3 seconds off the podium
Everyone was very clean, and had some great close battles throughout 👍
Lots of people couldn't keep the DBR9 on track. AMS_Dood's tune is fast in time trial, but in a race situation consistency and comfort is more important. Especially on a track like Suzuka with grass and gravel everywhere. Don't bite off more than you can chew!

Good luck and have fun everyone

Did you keep all of praiano's settings? It feels like the diff is off to me, when I'm going through the esses and out of Spoon it feels like the power's getting limited when I'm accelerating and turning at the same time.

 

[VulcanSpirit]

Got a run out of the way in the 14:00. Total race time in the Mustang was a 32:54.634 including allowances for faster traffic, which still makes it a viable option for lower splits if you haven't had a chance to compete yet.

Oh yes, and it only just occurred to me that the default numberboards have not been enabled, so it was a little weird to enter the pits and see the Venator GT3 scheme without one.

More to follow...

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

1st slot, Decent quali, but could've been much better. Started 6th, shot up to 3rd after T1, but got stuck behind the leader as I was on softs and he on meds, eventually got past 2 laps later. Messed up the fast corner just before the pit on lap 6, lost some valuable time, pitted for meds, went along... Pit on lap 13 for hards, binned it in T1 on the final lap (I think, maybe lap 15), and ended up in 10th.

Not happy...going again.

 

[Batschisane52]

Sorry for asking stupid questions again...;-)

But is there a mandatory pit stop/mandatory change of tires in todays race at Suzuka...?

 

[Hasnain282]

Sorry for asking stupid questions again...;-)

But is there a mandatory pit stop/mandatory change of tires in todays race at Suzuka...?

Yes you have to use all 3 compounds of tyre