I don't know if they will be of any help (or even any interest) but here are my notes from this series:
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Professional Hall
Gran Turismo World Championship
Championship Race Series
Any Tyres
Any car
International A Licence Required
Prize Money: 25,500cr/race, 250,000cr/series
Prize Car: Ford GT LM Race Car Spec II ‘04 (Value 212,499cr)
Tokyo R246 (10 laps) (Grid)
Twin Ring Motegi Super Speedway (21 Laps) (Rolling)
Hong Kong (18 laps) (Rolling)
Seoul Central Reverse (19 laps) (Rolling)
El Capitan (ll laps) (Grid)
New York (15 laps) (Rolling)
Opera Paris Reverse (18 laps) (Rolling)
Suzuka (9 Laps) (Grid)
Grand Valley Speedway Reverse (11 laps) (Grid)
Circuit de la Sarthe I (4 laps) (Rolling)
I have only done this series once before. My notes show I used a Minolta and B-Specced a lot of the races after qualifying. The opposition seems formidable and this is just the sort of racing I don’t like (very high powered race cars).
Try it in the CLK-GTR and see what happens.
Grid: Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car ’88, Mazda 787B Race Car ’91, Sauber Mercedes C9 Race Car ’89, Playstation Pescarolo Courage C60 race Car ’04, Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car ’89
At Tokyo R246, poled by 2 seconds with 1’26.979. Terrible race that I aborted on lap 2 after I got barged out of the way and then spun the car. My reflexes just aren’t up to this kind of frantic driving on a grainy pictured TV. The grid was 186 A-Spec, not that that matters.
Try again versus grid of:
Playstation Pescarolo Courage C60 race Car ’04, Mazda 787B Race Car ’91, Nissan R92CP Race Car ’92, Audi R8 Race Car ’01, Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car ’89
A-Spec would have been 174 but the CLK-GTR has serious rear tyre wear issues and I span out on near-reds on lap 8. Pitted and switched tyres to R3/R2 which seems to work okay but finished last. The car has bad handling characteristics that do not synchronise with my style. It has snap oversteer braking into corners and has mid-corner to exit understeer.
Moved on to Super Speedway and got utterly panned. The CLK-GTR snap oversteers and then slides whenever you brake for a corner. Awful. Spend a couple of nights spannering it and got it to handle better but it is still not a winner I’m sad to say.
[Notes from much later] I've subsequently learned quite a bit about how to moderate the characteristics displayed by the Merc and may well be tempted to have another go at this at some point[end notes addendum]
Switch to the BWM McLaren F1 GTR Race Car ’97.
Grid: Minolta Toyota 88C-V Race Car ’89, Gillet Vertigo Race Car ’04, Nissan R92CP Race Car ’92, Nissan R89C Race Car ’89, AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car ’98
Running on R3’s with power cranked up with a Turbo 3 to 723HP, managed to take pole from the R92CP. I’ll run a One Pit Strategy rather than a zero pit and stick with my R3 tyres. The start will be tricky as I reckon I’ll spool up the rears with so much power. I thought I was in trouble when 200 A-Spec came up but I managed to hold the lead off the line. Lost it during lap 6 as the R92 just kept getting faster and faster (I did too but he was doing better 
. BL 1’26.427. I pitted and switched to R4’s. Came out in 6th place but on lap 7 everyone pitted it seems, except the Vertigo, which held up the R92 when he came out of the pits and allowed me to catch up and pass him. BL on R4’s was 1’25.249 MOV = 3.502 seconds.
Twin Ring Motegi Super Speedway
I drive this track very poorly indeed, which is a bit embarassing as it only has two corners, The AI seem to go fast here too so I’m expecting trouble. I get it. The best I can qualify is 4th. The three Mega-Nippon cars are just too fast for me. Even running R4’a and raising the rear ride height I can’t take the corners as fast as them. Run the race and expect to swear a lot. The big three pit early and I breifly think I have a chance but I persist too long on my reddening tyres and spin out. I haven’t saved the series so I’ll have to swallow the loss and move on I think. Or abandon the series and start again … that’ll be tomorrow tho’ (got to allow time for my blood to cool ROFL).
Did the restart. Took R246 again with about the same performance and tactics. This time at Motegi, try for a different strategy. Run on Super Hards and don’t pit. That didn’t work. Finished a lap down in 4th. I expected them to pit twice and they didn’t. I watched the AI run on the replay and they were taking the bend into the S/F straight at 160mph compared to my 140mph and were 10mph faster than me on maximum speed. No wonder I can’t keep up. I recognise that I will never be able to beat them here and move on.
Hong Kong
Pole with 1’14.837 (up 2 seconds). I think if I want to pit only once here I’d better use a harder compound on the rear. Run R3/R2. Got punted into the hairpin on lap one and never recovered. Perhaps need to try a higher TCS here to counteract the spin-cycle factor.
Restarted the PS2, spannered the suspension and drivetrain and got my qualifying time into the 1’12’s.
Brakes: 5/5
Springs: 13.8/13.8
Ride: 70/70
Damper B: 5/4
Damper R: 9/8
Camber 2.0/1.0
Stabs: 5/4
Gears: Tranny Trick then Final 3.000
Downforce: 38/47
LSD: 10/40/40
BL 1’12.069 MOV 7.550 seconds.
Seoul Central Reverse
Will this be a nightmare? Qualify with 1’51.977, up a mere 0.145 seconds. I smell defeat in the air here. I’ve saved at the start of this so I can try again if it all goes horribly wrong. BL 51.902 MOV Huge. Essentially, the gap to second place stayed between 2 and 4 seconds for quite a few laps. I realised that I probably wouldn’t have to pit if I took it steady and was amazed that all the AI did pit. That made for an easy win.
El Capitan
Oh dear! The car handles terribly here. The bumps and dips drive her crazy and she swaps ends at every provocation. Tried everything I could to make it work and everything failed. Dampers, Springs, Ride Height, Stabalisers … nothing made it handle once you were going at a competitive pace. Did the insane thing of stiffening the rear stabs and softening the front whilst increasing rear ride height. Better – not fabulous but it’ll do. Clicked up the rear downforce a touch too. Didn’t note the time but I made pole by a couple of seconds. Didn’t work in the race; span out twice on lap two trying to catch the AI after they charged away from the start.
Try a different set-up strategy, running R3’s all round. Poled with 1’32.562 (up 7.294 seconds) with no drama except for some unanticipated understeer.
Brakes: 5/5
Springs: 13.8/13.8
Ride: 70/70
Damper B: 4/3
Damper R: 6/8
Camber 2.0/1.0
Stabs: 6/6
ASM 10/10
TCS 5
Gears: Tranny Trick then Final 3.000
Downforce: 38/53
LSD: 10/40/20
Try R3/R2’s and was 8 tenths slower and a lot less friendly to drive. I’m not seeing the ASM activate but it must be doing something as she’s still lots better than before. Running with +16 Weight Balance gets 1’31.221, altho’ she’s still a bit hairy in the corners. Try the race with ASM on (I’m not too proud to admit it helps (tho’ it does hurt to say it!)). BL 1’29.718 after a pit stop on lap 6 to switch tyres to R3/R3. MOV was monumental. I’ll never scorn ASM again as I got overtaken and spun-out by the Big Three on Turn 1 and was in last place by quite a way once I got my self turned in the right direction again. Before the end of the lap I was in P2 again and P1 shortly after
. I’ve a feeling the TCS had a lot to do with it as it was flickering an awful lot here.
Anyhow, 200 A-Spec in the bag.
New York
Running with set-up A, poled with 1’27.047 (up 2.824 seconds). The back end is very skittish so try a few amendments. TCS up to 5, rear downforce maxed at 53, weight balance +16. Didn’t help much as it made her a touch pendulum-like. Keep the higher TCS and try reducing the LSD D to 20. Commit to the race and pray. That nearly proved very costly. The low LSD D didn’t have the effect I anticipated and made her a swap-ends monster at Madison Square Gardens. Tried to go the distance on one set of tyres to make it up. Took the lead when the AI pitted but realised I wasn’t going to make it – switched to R4’s for the last three laps and got BL 1’24.326 MOV 4.558 seconds.
Opera Paris Reverse
Put the LSD D back to 40 before I forget. Running Set A the car is terrible again. It snap oversteers when braking for corners or if you turn too sharply and understeers on the way out. I got 1’22.628 for second on the grid (0.6 seconds down). Try Set B. Took pole with a cautious 1’20.413 (up 1.419 seconds). The car still reacts badly to all the ruts and bumps but it’s much better. Raise the Ride Height to 80mm and see of it helps. Couldn’t hold off the Big Three and got punted into the barriers. Restart. Poled with 1’17.287 (up 4.322 seconds). BL 1’14.401 MOV Monumental (the R92CP pitted twice!).
Suzuka
Try Set A for qualifying. Nope – nightmare oversteer and loss of traction booting it out of the corners. Tweak rear downforce back to maximum. Drop LSD D to 30, Rear Brakes to 4 and fit R3’s to rear. Poled with a dreadful 1’53.024 (had two off-track excursions) (up 0.6 seconds). The problem now is understeer. Drop the rears back to R2’s and drop LSD A to 30. No good – still get slidey back end and understeer in the same corner. Most frustrating. Run Set B. Still bad as you can feel the ASM gathering up the car as it want’s to flip around and slide. Poled with 1’51.487 (up 2.128 seconds). Run the race and pray I don’t crash. Well that didn’t help … punted off at Turn 1. Restart. Ran Set A with the ASM turned on. Poled 1’49.063 (up 5.233 seconds). Tried to go the distance on one set of tyres; didn’t work as the rear end lifted into the Spoon and I just ran straight off the track with steering and brakes utterly ignored. Try her on R4’s with a lap 5 pit. Poled 1’47.622 (up 5.993 seconds). Oops, only 187 A-Spec. Leave it for now as my blood is at boiling point.
Back to the attack. Qualify on R3’s using Set A altered to increase rear downforce to 50 and the LSD to 10/30/30. Poled with 1’49.675 (up 3.940 seconds). Bl 1’47.417 MOV 5.757 seconds after a last lap excursion and scare! The cars handling is very strange indeed and I can’t make up my mind what’s causing it’s large variability in steering and braking response.
Grand Valley Speedway Reverse
Using the same set-up as above, poled with 1’40.037 (up 9.819 seconds). I’m planning a lap 6 pit, let’s see if the rear tyres last that long. BL 1’39.595 MOV 3.399 seconds. Had a bad scare on lap 6 as the AI bashed me off into the sand on the last corner and left me in last place and having to pit. Fought my way back to the front and took the win.
Circuit de la Sarthe I
My nemesis, in a car I know will be a nightmare here, with its predilection for braking oversteer and high speed corner understeer. Obviously I’m going to need to pit – will R3’s make it on the rear? Poled with 3’32.686 by only 0.490 seconds. My gearbox is too short but I’m thinking that maybe the tyres will last all the way. Reduce Final Drive to 2.760 and rear brakes to 3. Raise the Ride height 5mm to 75. Here we go, get ready for a wild ride ... yep, punted off at the second corner across Blackpool Beach and into the barriers (the AI are MUCH faster). Reset. Adjust Final Drive down to 2.670. Poled with 3’30.299 (up 2.156 seconds) but the cars handling is scary (and the AI speed down the back straights is also nasty, tho’ I seem to have them beat down the Mulsanne). BL 3’30.867 MOV monumental. The Big Three all pitted at the end of lap 3 and left me free and clear. Had a couple of twitchy moments on the final corners with nearly-red tyres at the end of the race but she held together and conquered.
The McLaren F1 GTR clearly needs a session in the Spannering Club to try and correct her handling peculiarities but she is obviously fast enough for the job, even against the best of the AI opposition. The only place she failed was Super Speedway and that may be more due to the driver than the car.
Anyhow, 200 A-Spec except for the aforementioned Super Speedway race.
Reran that race a number of times before finally submitting and using the Black 787B (R2 tyres and 171KG Ballast gave 200 A-Spec). I only won tho’ because the R92CP seemed to have an incident and lose it, thus allowing me to get in front of him and finally hold the lead once the Minolta pitted out of my way. Watching the replay, he ran smack into the end of the pit-lane wall and then proceeded to muck up attempts to pit on the subsequent lap or so ROFL. My BL was 0’30.660 with TRT of 11’01.897 MOV 13 seconds over the R92CP, despite all his disasters mid-race.