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

[VulcanSpirit]

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

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

All three compounds (Hards, Mediums and Softs) are required today. 👍

 

[Batschisane52]

Hasnain&Vulca:thx for the quick answers...

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

Victory. Holy shishkebabs. 306 points! Video later.

Started 4th, went into 2nd by T1, slid into 1st and stayed there. Start on softs, pit lap 7 for meds, pit lap 14 for hards.

I assume the guys behind me ended up in a bit of a fight which bought me valuable time, and I only slipped up once for only a 2 second loss in total. Won by 4 seconds.

I was putting in consistent low 57s while my tires still had life in them.

Edit: video

 

[AK84LFC]

Waited there doing free practice, matching starts - disconnected from server. Wtf

 

[OJBrit]

Last time we had Gr3 Suzuka in a championship race I beat the GT-R's with the WRX and got a win. So this time I decided to beat the DBR9's with it's brother from another mother the Lancer. Seeing as I haven't used the car before it was a case of learning it. I don't take a tune off the internet. It is likely not to suit me. So all I do is change the rake a little, and tweek out the natural understeer so it's more balanced. The cars are always much better for me afterwards. So I was happy as I sneaked into the 1:58's in practice before the race started. Lobby is mostly DBR9's but there are a smattering of other cars. An AMG, 911, R.S.01, Atenza, FT-1 and a couple of Supra's are also in the field. Unfortunately I can only do 1 lap as I catch another car out of 130R. They are slow through the Triangle and hold me up. I get a 59.6 and I believe I was costed half a second at least. No point trying to fight them into T1 for the next lap so I back off. In the end I start P11 which isn't too bad. I slap the hards on for the first stint.

Race start is as chaotic as you'd expect. I broke early on the outside of T1 to make sure I got round. But the FT-1 nudges me off trying to outbrake me. Surprisingly I keep it straight on the marbles and am able to get back on track with no issue. I am back on 19th now but not for long. A few others were victims and ghosted cars provided a guard of honour out of T2. I was on the back of the pack still and much better than those ahead through the esses. I took my hards to lap 5 and I was up to 11th again before I pitted. However on my pit lap I either didn't brake enough into Degna 1 or my wheel had a wobbly moment as usual. I went wide. Thankfully kept it straight but had to brake causing me to do a 180 into the outside of Degna 2. With no barrier impact it was a quick hop out of the gravel onto the track. At the stop I went onto the mediums and set about regaining lost time. I was able to make my way forwards again. I caught a Supra and the R.S.01 battling. The Supra went up the inside into T2 and the R.S.01 went wide. I went past. I was right up the Supra's chuff and accidentally nudged them off into Degna 1. I waited out of the hairpin for them and lost the 2 places I had gained that lap. The next lap the R.S.01 is is strife again and we both pass. All three of us go into the pits lap 12. I come out right on the Supra's tail. I make the move into the Casio Triangle. Either the Supra is on a slower tyre a tune not suited to them or is stock. Whatever it is I pull away. After the stops I am now in 10th. I am closing in on the cars ahead, but running out of laps. I pass a German recovering from the barrier at the second spoon apex. So I cross the line in 9th. Not too bad but could have been better if I hadn't lost about 20 seconds from spinning at the Degna's and waiting for someone I tapped. Plus I was 2 and a bit seconds from claiming 8th as 2nd had mucked up their tyres somehow.

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.

I noticed that in the pits too. If I'd have know I'd have put a number on. Strange.

 

[AK84LFC]

All three compounds (Hards, Mediums and Softs) are required today. 👍

Where does it state that anywhere in the game? How do people know?

 

[O604]

Where does it state that anywhere in the game? How do people know?

Pit Info
Min No. of Pit Stops: None
Required Tires: Racing Hard/Medium/Soft

Sport Mode | Gran Turismo Sport - gran-turismo.com

www.gran-turismo.com

 

[VulcanSpirit]

Where does it state that anywhere in the game? How do people know?

In-game, it's under Race Details > Pit Info (scroll to the very bottom) > Tyre Requirement in the Race Entry screen. The corresponding green, yellow and red dots also appear in the bottom-right of the lobby screen when the race itself gets underway.

 

[Cerebral303]

I used the tune in the video above, and had some highs (taking an early lead on softs and setting the lap record for the first half of the race) and lows (multiple offs in mediums that I was somehow slower in than I was in either Softs or Hards!) and back to quite highs - finishing 5th and having a nice bump in DR and SR.

I'm using this season as a warmup and am still feeling rusty, inconsistent, making silly mistakes, but it seems a lot of people around me in races at my level are in the same boat so it evens out.

 

[xMAXIx79]

I just did my first race for today in my McLaren.
The race didn't go very well for me, although I had a very good time with the car in qualifying, a very low 1.58 and therefore grid position number 2.
But the McLaren is very, very sensitive and very tricky to drive with the qualifying setup, which meant that I made a lot of driving mistakes, many unnecessary mistakes that were unavoidable because the McLaren simply eats up the tires, even the hard tires are terribly consumed strong.
Due to these mistakes and the high tire consumption in addition to a pit strategy that was not yet suitable, I finally dropped from 2nd to the last place number 13. Not a good result for me, but instructive and I hope that I can still race today and improve myself as a result.

But that also shows me that the McLaren is quite competitive, at least in the class in which I drive, and I'm very satisfied with that, because I like this car. I also have the Aston Martin, I also managed a faster qualifying time with the Aston Martin, but I just prefer the McLaren and that's why I like driving it.

 

[AK84LFC]

Another disconnect from network, absolute joke

 

[HussainFIA]

Hi, first post here. Only started sim racing early this year. B/s so far.

I had been practicing for 2 days and the best I got was 1:58 with the Austin Martin .only today I noticed I was practicing at medium…

Anyway, 3rd attempt after quitting the first two…I qualify as 1st, which made me decide to go with a 7s/7m/2h. The start of the race I had a bad start and lose a position before turn 1, and dropping 2nd. I thought ok, I can keep up with the British guy in front of me. Boy I was wrong.

The guy in front of me started driving so slowly…every corner braking way too early, and if I try to go for a move, he “defends”. I was really thinking of just nudging him on a turn be done with it, but decided not to. If I was much better I could find a way to overtake but I’m still relatively a noob. I ended up wasting my precious soft tyres and the best lap I got was 2:00….by the time he pitted, I decided to lap an extra time with no one in front. Things were ok, until I pitted, and again….someone else, a German this time, with worn tyres “defending “ and slowing me done on my fresh mediums….it took 4 laps and me tricking him into thinking I will dive for him to brake late and get wide on the grass….it was finally turn 12 and I was leading and decided to no change to Hard until the last lap, for fear the the German will do that I end behind him.

Sadly I came out of the pit at 3rd position with a Spaniard 4s ahead at 2nd place and another German 1st. Nothing interesting happens until I cross the finish line and the German ended up with a 1min penalty. Giving me 2nd place and 80ish points.

I really think I could gotten 1st if not for being slowed down and people not giving space for clearly faster drivers.

 

[Famine]

Where does it state that anywhere in the game? How do people know?

In the Race Details screen:

And also the bottom-right of the main lobby screen once you're in there.

Another disconnect from network, absolute joke

Have you got a wired connection, fixed IP rather than DHCP, and your console in your router's DMZ? If not, do that before the next race. Here's a guide:

So GT Sport - like GT6 and GT5, and GT5P - is a bit sensitive to network environments, and a connection that's fine one day (or hour) might be ropey the next. There's an "easy" way to optimise your own network environment and make it as stable and friendly as possible.

Step 1 - Wire it in
A wired connection is innately more stable (and marginally broader and more responsive) than a wireless one.

Step 2 - Static IP address
This is a little more complicated and requires knowing a very small amount about your home network.
In essence, your router (the thing that plugs into the outside world) has a small amount of addresses (called IP addresses) that it assigns to the devices connecting to it. It receives information from the outside world, works out which device it has to go to and sends it there. Your device also sends information to it, which the router translates to show which device it has come from, and sends it out. This is a function known as "Network Address Translation" (NAT). Now you know what "NAT Type" means - the type of NAT currently used. NAT Type 2 is best and NAT Type 3 is the worst, for really boring reasons. If you have NAT Type 3 you will absolutely need to do the rest of this list.
If left to its own devices (it probably would), the router will assign IP addresses automatically. This means that every time a device is turned on, the router gives it a number. This is usually sequential, but not always, and known as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). If you have lots of devices connected at once, this can sometimes cause issues as a device "wants" the IP address another one is using. It's usually only a hiccup, but it can be bad if you're doing 140mph when it hiccups because your kid is checking their phone...
For stability purposes it's better to assign each and every device in your house its own, permanent IP address. First you'll need to find out what IP addresses your router uses. Usually, this will be 192.168.0.[any number from 2-255], with the router itself as 192.168.0.1, but not always*. Best way to check is to look at the router's own IP address, printed on the back of it. That's the address you'd type into your browser to log into your router's control panel. Once you've found out, pick a number from 2-255...
Then, on the PS4 go to:
Settings (second button from the right hand side)
-> Network
-> Set Up Internet Connection
If you've wired it in as above, pick "use a LAN cable". If not, bad you, pick WiFi.
On the next screen pick "Custom", and then "Manual". Now you need to enter the IP address you've chosen, along with some other... kookier information.
For your IP address enter the number you picked. "Subnet Mask" is even more almost always going to be 255.255.255.0. "Default Gateway" is your router's address. The DNS (Domain Name Server; the servers that change the IP addresses of locations into names, like gtplanet.net) settings are up to you; your ISP has its DNS and these will likely be in the router's control panel under DNS. It's easier to use the free DNS at OpenDNS. These are "208.67.220.220" and "208.67.222.222".

As a random example, the screen should now look something like this:
IP Address - 192.168.0.4
Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway - 192.168.0.1
Primary DNS - 208.67.220.220
Secondary DNS - 208.67.222.222

On the next screens hit Automatic, Do Not Use and Test. It'll now do a network test. If you have set ANYTHING wrong, it will fail at the "Obtain IP address" or "Internet Connection" stage. Double check your numbers...

Lastly, it's best to do exactly the same thing in your router, and it's required for the next step. Routers vary wildly in where to find this function, but you should have your own instruction manual for it... It's likely to be under an advanced settings menu, labelled as IP addresses or network configuration or something similar. All you need to do is find your console (this can be tricky, as it may be listed by its MAC address; you can find your console's MAC address in its Settings menu somewhere. I forget where. It's a set of six pairs of hexadecimal numbers, from 00-FF, separated by colons), click on that and enter the IP address you picked for it.

If you think this is geeky, I've done it for every device in my house, numbering 25 or so now. And the consoles, laptops, mobiles and computers are separated into dedicated IP blocs, so when we get a new one it's easy to remember what the next number should be. NEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!

Step 3 - DMZ
So, basically, devices need to send information out through "ports". This is stupendously difficult to explain - you and I might think that a "port" is what you plug a cable into, but it's not. Well, not in this sense - it's a networking thing. Routers have built-in protective "firewalls" that block certain ports under certain conditions. This is great - it helps prevent your computer from being compromised, or sending out information when it has been - but when a console has its ports blocked, you can't game.

Routers also have a place outside of their normal firewall called the DMZ - which, yes, is the Demilitarised Zone. This is a connection where the firewall doesn't exist, so there's no defences. As there's no defences, there's no ports blocked. This is great news for gaming.

Once you've assigned the static IP address to the PS4 both in the console and in the router, you'll want to find your router's DMZ function. Again, this varies wildly, but is often just labelled as "DMZ". It may be under a Firewall menu or similar. Again, consult your manual. You'll need to then assign the console's IP address (or some routers allow you to assign the device, if you can remember its MAC Address, or you gave it a name) to the DMZ.

You can only assign a single device or IP to a DMZ, and your console is the safest thing to put there.

Once you've done all this, the chances are that you won't see any immediate differences in the network test. You might have a slightly lower ping, or a slightly higher bandwidth, but probably won't. But what you will have is the absolute ideal conditions for your console for online gaming, and the only disconnects that will affect you should be when everyone gets booted from a lobby. Or if your internet connection itself falls over, or there's a power cut.

It won't cure low bandwidth, high ping connections, but it will make it more stable and it's everything you can do to make it work. Unless your ISP throttles gaming traffic, which some do, the bastards...


*Mine is NOT the same as this. If yours isn't as well, and you don't know what you're doing, shout at me in PMs and I'll help

 

[watto79]

I really think I could gotten 1st if not for being slowed down and people not giving space for clearly faster drivers.

Nobody's under any obligation to let you through. If you're faster, it's down to you to make a clean overtake.

The same thing happened to me too. Started 4th and was up to 3rd into the first corner. The person starting 2nd was on medium tyres (I was on softs), and while they were really quick they were still holding me up. It ruined my soft stint so I dropped positions after swapping tyres. It probably cost me a podium but that's racing. They chose a different strategy and made it work, so well done them. They went on to win too.

Still enjoyed the race. Anytime I can do 16 laps of Suzuka without binning it is a win in my books 😅

 

[xMAXIx79]

Hi, first post here. Only started sim racing early this year. B/s so far.

I had been practicing for 2 days and the best I got was 1:58 with the Austin Martin .only today I noticed I was practicing at medium…

Anyway, 3rd attempt after quitting the first two…I qualify as 1st, which made me decide to go with a 7s/7m/2h. The start of the race I had a bad start and lose a position before turn 1, and dropping 2nd. I thought ok, I can keep up with the British guy in front of me. Boy I was wrong.

The guy in front of me started driving so slowly…every corner braking way too early, and if I try to go for a move, he “defends”. I was really thinking of just nudging him on a turn be done with it, but decided not to. If I was much better I could find a way to overtake but I’m still relatively a noob. I ended up wasting my precious soft tyres and the best lap I got was 2:00….by the time he pitted, I decided to lap an extra time with no one in front. Things were ok, until I pitted, and again….someone else, a German this time, with worn tyres “defending “ and slowing me done on my fresh mediums….it took 4 laps and me tricking him into thinking I will dive for him to brake late and get wide on the grass….it was finally turn 12 and I was leading and decided to no change to Hard until the last lap, for fear the the German will do that I end behind him.

Sadly I came out of the pit at 3rd position with a Spaniard 4s ahead at 2nd place and another German 1st. Nothing interesting happens until I cross the finish line and the German ended up with a 1min penalty. Giving me 2nd place and 80ish points.

I really think I could gotten 1st if not for being slowed down and people not giving space for clearly faster drivers.

The first of all.. You are NO NOOB!!! You are an Fair Driver. Others without so much Sportsmanship, have dive into that Leader and take this Position. So good fair Driving it's for me much more important. Some Times i break in front of Finish Line for the Guy behind me if we got a very fair Race. I'm also only a B/S Driver.

 

[HussainFIA]

Nobody's under any obligation to let you through. If you're faster, it's down to you to make a clean overtake.

I understand that there is no obligation. But it was harming us both (them more than me). None of the two who were “defending “ first position ended on podium. I think the German was 6th.

 

[xMAXIx79]

Some are drive same like me.. the first Round very slow.. to temp up the Tyres. And/Or they drive an other Car.. some Cars need to Break earlyer/harder then others, but retake this Time with Speed on strait long Sectors. Like "my" McLaren.

 

[VulcanSpirit]

You've seen the total time; now here's the rundown of my 14:00 run. Technically, my fastest Free Practice time still went to the DBR9 with a 1:56.966, but since the Mustang could do a 1:56.991 with the settings posted on the previous page, I felt that the resulting difference was not worth the switch to the meta machine. I did at one point also consider the GT LM as a back-up alternative, but generally found it too volatile and short of straight-line power to put it through any racing simulations. Mustang it was, then, in what is at the moment likely to be a one-off showing since I haven't been sold on the idea of 'Road to GT7' being an entirely tuning-based series.

14:00 Road to GT7

Sixteen DBR9s turned up for the lobby (including that of @NekoPufferPPP), the only other non-Aston runners being a blue McLaren F1, a 911 RSR and a Genesis. Out of all those, the Genesis seemed to be the strongest in qualifying, quickly catching up to me during the course of our first flying laps. Whatever setup he was using was clearly better suited through the stretch between the 'S's and Degna, though this lead to an issue where he ended up tapping my rear bumper under braking for Degna 1. Resigned myself to let the Genesis pass before 130R, though mercifully for him the hold-up wasn't enough to stop him from eventually qualifying 12th with a 1:55.329.

Even with this compromise, I still managed to complete a preliminary 1:57.870, which improved to a 1:57.373 by the session's end. Trouble was, against all of those DBR9s, that time would only be fast enough for a lowly 18th - right behind the McLaren and three seconds off the pole-sitting time set by a Greek Aston driver.

Much like in last night's test lobby, the intention was to only run one lap on Hards, allowing me to spend enough time on the softer compounds to get the most out of the Mustang as I could. Since I was starting so far down, it was a no-brainer to get rid of these on the opener, which paid off to some degree as the lights went green and I pulled away on TC 2. The Aston starting in 4th accidentally releases the handbrake during the countdown, resulting in him twitching and effectively stalling as the jump start penalty kicks in. This triggers collisions and a spin between a few other DBR9s in the mid-pack; more cars slip, slide and spin out between Turn 2 and Dunlop, including the polesitter and the German in Gulf colours who was momentarily running in 2nd as a consequence.

It didn't take too long for the Mustang's weakness through 130R to manifest itself again, however. By the end of the lap, an Italian Aston in a Gulf-like livery swallows me up with a dive through the Casio Triangle, having been forced to back out at the end of 130R as a result of the Hards and less effective aero I was running with. Running 13th at this stage was still an accomplishment despite the latter handicap, though as I switched to Mediums this would make it harder to build on that early promise. My main focus had been to drive quickly within my limits, but not do anything to purposefully compromise drivers in faster machinery. This mantra I stuck with for the entirety of the race.

As a result, when the McLaren and #11 French Aston both negated my undercut on Lap 3, the only sensible response was to let both through on the run from Dunlop to Degna 1. There was a little reprieve when the McLaren ran onto the astroturf at Turn 1 shortly after, but again that advantage was quickly erased as he could still floor it through 130R. With the #3 Red Bull Aston following closely behind as well, 15th became 17th, but that was fine since both of those double passes happened without a single bit of contact. Towards the end of Lap 5, the pole-sitter gets it all wrong at 130R and becomes the first of four cars to retire by the half-way point. The others were the 911, the Genesis and a purple Aston lingering at the back, all resulting from spins and/or barrier collisions. It didn't matter that two Gulf Astons on Softs had outmanoeuvred me; I could finish no worse than 16th as the time came to switch over to Softs.

The mammoth 8-lap stint was a lonely one, I'll give you that. While there wouldn't be any more chances to gain ground with the pace differences between myself, the McLaren and the rest, it was a good opportunity to properly stretch the Mustang's legs and pull out a string of consistent sub-2 minute laps, the best being a 1:58.954. The biggest concern was whether I could make it across the line within the 1-minute cut-off, though as cars at the sharp end had yet to take on the Hard compound, that wasn't entirely impossible. Once that phase was out of the way, I came home 47 seconds down on the winning Frenchman, content with 16th and the best final stint the Mustang had summoned all week.

Overall, things panned out more or less the same as in the test lobbies. The DBR9 has the Mustang trailing, sure, but in terms of comfort and stability, I'd say again that the Ford excels in those departments. That is especially the case through Turn 1 and when coming out of slower corners such as the Hairpin and Spoon, where there's enough traction for me to put the hammer down without squirming around too much. No off-track excursions, no desperate manoeuvres to fight for position with the aero and tuning disparities working against me. Just a clean, sensible race proving to others in lower splits that the Mustang can still be potentially competitive in this combo. I must again thank @praiano63 for his Nordschleife tune, which provided the basis for the settings I made and ended up using for the actual race.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

I had worked on a tune for the Mustang and also looked at @VulcanSpirit tune for some pointers, and changes a few things in my setup because of his

Came into a mixed lobby, about half was DBR, but the rest was mixed. Unfortunately I was door #1.

In qualifying I ran at maybe 95% of my ability for the first lap then gave it all on lap 2. Coming in to T1 a DVR comes out of the pit, cross over and I pass on the inside only to be rammed all the way to the wall.
After race he stated he didn't see any cars on track during race and qualifications. Obviously should have refrained from racing ...
Well. The one lap made me p7, the standing start went good, Mustang is a good starter.
I ran 7 Mediums, 3 hards and 6 softs. Had one guy that was obviously faster so I made.room for him to pass and another guy who thought he was faster but when I slipstream him on the back straight and start to pass he forces me to the side so two wheels in the grass.
Knowing this was on purpose and knowing it would spin me if I braked I lifted and then tapped him in brake zone. He went off instead.
Finished P6 wih a CRB. Thanks to @Stencedaddy for the fabulous livery

The tires wore but the tune and car ran just fine even on worn tires.
I went from BB +3 to BB+4 on the last stint. Here's the tire wear after 6 laps on soft

I had the same problem with people in other cars not realising that different cars have different braking points and that a mix of tires makes it even more so

 

[xMAXIx79]

Update.. some "not fine Drivers" but OK. I was starting on Hard Tyres.. it works good for me.

 

[05XR8]

Speaking on stability, that’s why I was always going with the RC F. It’s that comforter. The Mustang is quick and the nose goes where it’s pointed. I knew that DBR9 wouldn’t have me in corners. It’s speed on the back straight was ridiculous. I passed a DBR9 and it caught up before the PZ. The player knew I was faster everywhere else and bump drafted me all the way to the 130R.

 

[O604]

I did way better than I thought.

Started 10 laps on S, 1 lap H, finished on M.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

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.

Yep everything is the same. The loss of power is because of the low LSD Accel. Power is transferred to the unloaded inside wheel and you get that stuttering sensation. IMO, you lose a tiny bit of speed, but its better than the usual alternative with the GT-R wheelspinning out of lower gear corners (and damaging the rear tyres). If you feel you can handle more wheelspin though, feel free to raise the LSD Accel 👍

 

[FractalSalt]

I am starting on Hard Tyres for a relatively simple reason.

I am not skilled enough to use my fastest tyres on my slowest lap (Lap #1).

I am using the Mustang for another relatively simple reason.

I know the car better than I know other cars.

 

[afc5150]

I completely blew what was shaping up to be a top 5 in my highest ever lobby by panicking at the first pit stop and switching my medium tires to medium tires. Ended up P12. Going again.

 

[O604]

I am starting on Hard Tyres for a relatively simple reason.

I am not skilled enough to use my fastest tyres on my slowest lap (Lap #1).

I started on softs so I can have the most control in traffic at the begining. And I found Mediums easier to push with less fuel weight at the end.

 

[FractalSalt]

Is anyone else at that point in their learning curve where the only way that they can improve their overall time is to... stay on the tarmac, all the time?

 

[mobilmasher]

Ran slot 2 on my alt, @Pops_Masher, finished 3rd. Messed up in the pits, ran softs 2x. @FractalSalt did good finishing 7th in the Mustang. I tried all week to tune it and wasn't happy with it.

 

[xMAXIx79]

I'm also Start with Hard Tyres and it works ok. I was almost the last one after qualifying, but that was ok. I got a brillant start, won 2 Ranks and the Trafic in front of me goes into carnage. Do i was 8 in front of Dunlop, but me speed was slow.. then comes an "NonDriver" from behind and shoot me to the Moon. So i had to Rolback the Hole Driver Field from behind again. The First Rounds ar Hard on that Tyres, but many Drives in front of me make Real War with they Cars against others. So its ok and possible to get few Places. After 8 Laps i'll switch to Medium Tyres and start to push the last 4 Rounds maximum push with Soft Tyres, where many Drivers are Hard Tyres using.

 

[mobilmasher]

Is anyone else at that point in their learning curve where the only way that they can improve their overall time is to... stay on the tarmac, all the time?

It certainly does help. Try not pushing too hard and being on the edge all the time. Speed comes with familiarity.