Gran Turismo World Series 2024 Thread

[Wilsonson]

Can confirm some insane speed in GT3 sometimes. In Bathurst a guy in qualifying did a low 2:02. Clearly A to A+ territory in my opinion. Maybe some have just started out in Sport Mode and are rapidly increasing their DR but I guess cheesing the rating is probably a thing. Personally I don't understand why anyone capable of doing ok to good in GT1 would get a kick out of dominating GT3 on purpose.

Now Dragon's Trail. Contrary to popular opinion I kind of like the track. It is tough and unforgiving. But also challenging which I like.

I'm in GT3 for Honda.

First race wasn't anything special. Q3, finished 3rd in a 64 points lobby coming in as car no. 9. Had a couple errors which lead to finishing almost 10 seconds off P1. In free practice I switched between error free laps and ones with noticeable mistakes regularly, therefore this was kind of expected.

The second race was more interesting. Door number 6 this time in another 64 points lobby. I qualified 1st with a 1:39.272 only 3 tenths off my pb in free practice. I had a tiny bit more pace than the guy in 2nd and for some reason was mostly error free for the first 10 laps. My biggest gap was about 3.5 seconds but he was absolutely flawless going his pace like a metronome. I had a couple errors here and there which lead to about a 2 seconds gap approacing the final double left hander of the second to last lap.

Then it happened. I braked a tiny bit too late which lead to going too deep into the apex. I was worried that p2 might get a run on me and accelerated a bit too early. Oh noes...

I was certain that I threw a way my only chance at a win because making this little mistakes in ten laps felt like a miracle. However we should never give up. I recovered off the grass and had a flawless sausage chicane. I was about a half second behind approaching the hairpin after the back straight. Finally mister metronome had a moment if his own braking way too late and going too deep. I hit the corner perfectly and cut underneath and brought it home.

Overall this was a great experience. My first GTWS with only 5 races under my belt at the beginning of the series. Some great races. Especially Nürburgring and Watkins Glen. A very decent finish as well. 90th overall in GT3 and 2nd for Honda. Seemingly I am the only person in my region of 2 million inhabitants having raced this. This is a little unbelievable but I will gladly take the credits of course. Also apparently 2nd in all of Germany for GT3. Funnily the guy above me must be the same that is p1 for Honda because that one is also a German. Weird that online has a different aggregation than in the game.

I am excited for Nation's. Unfortunately I had registered back when I also registered for Manufacturer's. Therefore I will be in GT3 as well rather than GT2.

Thanks for all the reports and race strategy advice in this thread. It is a pleasure to be part of it.

 

[SupaflyIRL]

Friendship with McLaren and UK ended, now WHAT THE FRICK IS A KILOMETER?

 

[Moose78]

Now that the Manu Cup is done, I'm pretty happy with my results, especially considering that I missed the last round.

I enjoyed my stint with Mazda. I wanted to get at least one Gr.4 race in with the MAZDA3 before its inevitable nerfing, and it delivered for me at Watkins Glen. The RX-VISION was a solid Gr.3 car at the ring and the mountain.

The races were fun. I'll take any excuse to run laps at Nurburgring, so I was glad to have a race there. The drying track added an interesting challenge to the race. Watkins Glen was a fun sprint. With the gradually degrading tires, it was hard to know how things would play out at the end. I found the race at Bathurst the most fun. With drivers running different strategies, you didn't find out where you stood until the final lap.

I have to say the whole series felt very rushed to me, though. It really felt like there wasn't enough time to prepare for the races properly. I preferred last season, when all the races were on Saturdays. A week was about the right amount of time for me to start feeling comfortable on the track. Besides, Saturday races are much easier to schedule than Wednesdays.

Looking forward to the next season, and trying out another manufacturer.

 

[Egghaus88]

Round 4 of the Gran Turismo World Series Exhibition Series 2, North America GT1 League, 10:00pm slot. Corvette Gr.3.

After two strong races in a row, I was hoping to end this season on a high note. DTG is not my favourite track but I was hoping to pull something together. I did a 1:32.3 in practice, and I've been easy on the tires this season so I thought I'd be OK. The trouble started when I loaded into a lobby with 5 A+ drivers leaving me with a DR door number of 16. The trouble continues in qualifying where I have to take evasive action on lap 1, and get rear ended on lap 2, putting me P16 on the grid.

The race starts and I'm stuck at the back for the first half, only gaining positions at the misfortune of others. My pace improves around halfway and I within striking distance of a pack of cars ahead. I pass a Supra for P13 (woo) heading into lap 10, but as we enter the chicane they tag my bumper and send me hard into the wall. I take heavy damage, but see no sense in pitting, and the Supra was courteous enough to wait for me to get going again. Despite the damage I carry on and limp it home for a dismal P13 finish.

VR Recording;

 

[LeGeNd-1]

It's weird that for the dailys I don't want to race in anything other than the car that gives me the best chance of a good result. But I agree with you for the manufactuers races, I feel like picking something random and different for the fun of it. This time I only picked Ferrari because I'd just watched the film.

Dailys are a different ball game. For one you have unlimited practice time to set your quali lap, so naturally if you're not driving the meta you're gonna start at the back. Also generally there are a lot more dirty drivers, so again if you start from the back there's a high risk getting involved in trouble. Thirdly the lack of strategy means it's basically just a hotlapping competition with traffic. I never do Gr.3/4 dailys anymore because it's just a boring one sided race unless you use one of the top cars.

Manu you have to qualify on the spot + generally cleaner drivers + people using more varied cars + the need to fuel/tyre save = opens up more possibilities for non-meta cars to do well.

In general I just wish people realise the biggest factor in doing well is driver skill, not the car, amount of testing/practice, or getting "perfect" strategy. Those things help but only within your local group of racers. If you want to get more points, there is no easy way other than becoming a better driver and racing in a higher split room. And if you've done hundreds of races, chances are you already plateaued and that's the level you're operating. Forget about points, pick a fun car and just enjoy the races. Unpredictability is what makes racing great. Overpracticing just sucks the fun from racing.

 

[Dep Fishtail]

Round 4 of the Gran Turismo World Series Exhibition Series 2, North America GT1 League, 10:00pm slot. Corvette Gr.3.

After two strong races in a row, I was hoping to end this season on a high note. DTG is not my favourite track but I was hoping to pull something together. I did a 1:32.3 in practice, and I've been easy on the tires this season so I thought I'd be OK. The trouble started when I loaded into a lobby with 5 A+ drivers leaving me with a DR door number of 16. The trouble continues in qualifying where I have to take evasive action on lap 1, and get rear ended on lap 2, putting me P16 on the grid.

The race starts and I'm stuck at the back for the first half, only gaining positions at the misfortune of others. My pace improves around halfway and I within striking distance of a pack of cars ahead. I pass a Supra for P13 (woo) heading into lap 10, but as we enter the chicane they tag my bumper and send me hard into the wall. I take heavy damage, but see no sense in pitting, and the Supra was courteous enough to wait for me to get going again. Despite the damage I carry on and limp it home for a dismal P13 finish.

VR Recording;

Was good seeing you out there as it’s been a while since I’ve had another gtp member in a gtws race. I leave saying hi until after the races these days because it seems to either jinx me or identifies me as a target for puntero if I say hi to anyone beforehand hand. Now I try and lay low 😂

I watched the replay after the race and saw your misfortune in the chicane and I had a friend in an m6 that had the exact same thing happen in the chicane and same car which waited for him to get going out of the wall as well. Nice to see the gesture but the incident sucks all the way around.
Definitely a tough hand that you were dealt in that one.


Wish you some good racing for the next series and maybe we’ll meet again on the track soon 🍻

 

[Hasnain282]

Overpracticing just sucks the fun from racing.

A championship where they gave the combo as you entered the lobby would be great personally, give like 20 mins practice or something then go into quali and race. It'd have to be a different combo each slot or one slot per race day though

 

[Rangeraus]

I didn't race this Manufacturer's Cup season, partly because I have no desire to spend time finding and testing different setups on top of racing.

It's just my opinion, but I personally think PD allowing open tuning is a slippery slope and IMO for the next manufacturer season they should revert to fixed settings.

Allowing open tuning (even though they only allow changeable suspension settings at the moment) creates a few problems:

1. BOP discrepancy becomes larger
   As far as I know, the BOP (power/weight) is set for each car with a fixed setup. So some cars will be BOP'd based on a setup that might not be very good. Now if tuning is enabled for that car, suddenly that car becomes much faster than a car that may have already been BOP'd with a very good setup.
   
   One of the drivers who just won a GTWS world championship ran a Genesis and Lexus on different accounts at the Bathurst round, and the Genesis X was 0.7 seconds per lap faster. In top split this kind of gap will likely see you near the back of the field.
   
   There is never going to be a perfect BOP level, but allowing changeable settings makes the gap wider, not closer... which defeats the purpose.
   
   
2. Tuning takes time away from driving
   One of the big appeals of Gran Turismo and GTWS events is the ability to turn up with as much as little practice as you want and just race.
   
   Instead, to be competitive with open tuning, you will either need to spend time setting up the car, testing, iterating through settings changes, or find someone who will give you a tune, or spent a lot of time trawling servers or forums to find a setup. This applies even if you only have partial tuning. All of this takes time away from actually practising (both trying to drive fast, and figuring out a race strategy) which people already spend a lot of time on.
   
   ACC and iRacing already exist, this is where most people who want the "full" sim experience usually gravitate to if they want this.
   
   Which leads me to...
   
   
3. Open tuning creates a market for buying setups
   GTWS championships offer several overseas trips a year, plus appearance fees, plus merchandise including limited edition gear worth thousands of dollars. People will spend money to buy the 'ideal' tune for a car if it offers ROI. This already happens in ACC and iRacing and it already happened in the FIA GT championships where setups were sold for 50 euros each for a Top 16 Superstars Nations Cup race in 2020, and people bought it.
   
   Not everyone can afford this and it is simply a problem that need not exist.
   

Just my $0.02...

 

[Moose78]

In general I just wish people realise the biggest factor in doing well is driver skill, not the car, amount of testing/practice, or getting "perfect" strategy. Those things help but only within your local group of racers. If you want to get more points, there is no easy way other than becoming a better driver and racing in a higher split room. And if you've done hundreds of races, chances are you already plateaued and that's the level you're operating. Forget about points, pick a fun car and just enjoy the races. Unpredictability is what makes racing great. Overpracticing just sucks the fun from racing.

If anybody can be accused of overpracticing for these GTWS races, its me. For me, personally, the practice and preparation IS the fun part of these GTWS races. I love driving laps. I love tracking and analyzing the data. I love running tests to answer questions I have about strategy. The race is the icing on the cake. I get one shot (okay, maybe more) to find out if the preparation pays off.

Obviously, you can't prepare for everything, and that's part of what makes it fun.

I agree, it probably isn't the best way to move up the ranks as a competitive racer. If that's your goal, you are better off taking the advice of the better drivers than me on this forum, such as @LeGeNd-1. But for me, I'll keep doing my practice and preparation because that's how I get the most fun out of the game.

 

[OJBrit]

Can confirm some insane speed in GT3 sometimes. In Bathurst a guy in qualifying did a low 2:02. Clearly A to A+ territory in my opinion. Maybe some have just started out in Sport Mode and are rapidly increasing their DR but I guess cheesing the rating is probably a thing. Personally I don't understand why anyone capable of doing ok to good in GT1 would get a kick out of dominating GT3 on purpose

A lot will be tanking their ratings due to the lack of slots in GT1. Perhaps they can only race at certain times of the day and thus the slots in GT1 are inaccessible. PD needs to revert the slots back to as they were. It is one thing I am glad of in not being fast enough for GT1 at the moment.

Friendship with McLaren and UK ended, now WHAT THE FRICK IS A KILOMETER?

View attachment 1318529

1,000 meters. You're welcome.

 

[JDMKING13]

I didn't race this Manufacturer's Cup season, partly because I have no desire to spend time finding and testing different setups on top of racing.

It's just my opinion, but I personally think PD allowing open tuning is a slippery slope and IMO for the next manufacturer season they should revert to fixed settings.

Allowing open tuning (even though they only allow changeable suspension settings at the moment) creates a few problems:

1. BOP discrepancy becomes larger
   As far as I know, the BOP (power/weight) is set for each car with a fixed setup. So some cars will be BOP'd based on a setup that might not be very good. Now if tuning is enabled for that car, suddenly that car becomes much faster than a car that may have already been BOP'd with a very good setup.
   
   One of the drivers who just won a GTWS world championship ran a Genesis and Lexus on different accounts at the Bathurst round, and the Genesis X was 0.7 seconds per lap faster. In top split this kind of gap will likely see you near the back of the field.
   
   There is never going to be a perfect BOP level, but allowing changeable settings makes the gap wider, not closer... which defeats the purpose.
   
   
2. Tuning takes time away from driving
   One of the big appeals of Gran Turismo and GTWS events is the ability to turn up with as much as little practice as you want and just race.
   
   Instead, to be competitive with open tuning, you will either need to spend time setting up the car, testing, iterating through settings changes, or find someone who will give you a tune, or spent a lot of time trawling servers or forums to find a setup. This applies even if you only have partial tuning. All of this takes time away from actually practising (both trying to drive fast, and figuring out a race strategy) which people already spend a lot of time on.
   
   ACC and iRacing already exist, this is where most people who want the "full" sim experience usually gravitate to if they want this.
   
   Which leads me to...
   
   
3. Open tuning creates a market for buying setups
   GTWS championships offer several overseas trips a year, plus appearance fees, plus merchandise including limited edition gear worth thousands of dollars. People will spend money to buy the 'ideal' tune for a car if it offers ROI. This already happens in ACC and iRacing and it already happened in the FIA GT championships where setups were sold for 50 euros each for a Top 16 Superstars Nations Cup race in 2020, and people bought it.
   
   Not everyone can afford this and it is simply a problem that need not exist.

Just my $0.02...

I think you might be going a little to strong here especially when it’s only partially suspension tuning… First and for most every round didn’t allow tuning… The tuning aspect in my opinion is nothing like what you get in ACC in where you need a setup to be competitive… Driving the The 458 I wish they let us tune for the whole series… while the stock set isn’t bad it isn’t the best… and when PD let us tune in certain rounds it helped me drive the car better because I was a lot more comfortable in the car… It didn’t make me gain another second but I was a lot more consistent because the car felt better. In that Bathurst round I needed that bad how demanding the track was.

 

[SupaflyIRL]

1,000 meters. You're welcome.

when i woke up this morning i didn't know one thing, now i don't know a thousand

what an overwhelming start to a friday

 

[Famine]

1,000 meters.

That's a one and three duck eggs!

 

[jenson86]

Is there any chance of rain tomorrow at Spa? Don’t really like the car (using VR) but was on holiday and missed the whole manufacturer’s cup, so probably give it a try

 

[Yard_Sale]

I think you might be going a little to strong here especially when it’s only partially suspension tuning… First and for most every round didn’t allow tuning… The tuning aspect in my opinion is nothing like what you get in ACC in where you need a setup to be competitive… Driving the The 458 I wish they let us tune for the whole series… while the stock set isn’t bad it isn’t the best… and when PD let us tune in certain rounds it helped me drive the car better because I was a lot more comfortable in the car… It didn’t make me gain another second but I was a lot more consistent because the car felt better. In that Bathurst round I needed that bad how demanding the track was.

Agreed. I wish they opened up more tuning options for us Ferrari drivers. Anyone that complains, you’re subjected to (3) consecutive seasons only with Ferrari 😂


I dig tuning. In the case of the Ferrari, it never found me more pace, but rather, more drive ability. When I was with Porsche last season, I was able to find a bit of pace by just getting the car to handle how I like it to. I tried other peoples setups from discord, and they were just that…….THEIR SETUPS. They didn’t work for me.

However, I think the sweet spot as far as tuning is concerned - is dampers and anti roll bars only. Take spring adjustments away. ARB and damper adjustments are easy to understand, and get you 90% of where you need to be as far as setup is concerned. Once they added springs into the equation, my testing took me much longer to find that ideal setup. I LOVE testing, so it was all fun for me, but I can see how the casuals won’t like it.



Or….




Just the ability to copy/paste tunes from the leader board

 

[watto79]

Is there any chance of rain tomorrow at Spa? Don’t really like the car (using VR) but was on holiday and missed the whole manufacturer’s cup, so probably give it a try

As there's a tyre requirement of softs and mediums, there shouldn't be any rain.

Also, the X2019 does wheel spin in 5th gear. I really really do not want to drive it on a wet track.

 

[JDMKING13]

Agreed. I wish they opened up more tuning options for us Ferrari drivers. Anyone that complains, you’re subjected to (3) consecutive seasons only with Ferrari 😂


I dig tuning. In the case of the Ferrari, it never found me more pace, but rather, more drive ability. When I was with Porsche last season, I was able to find a bit of pace by just getting the car to handle how I like it to. I tried other peoples setups from discord, and they were just that…….THEIR SETUPS. They didn’t work for me.

However, I think the sweet spot as far as tuning is concerned is dampers/anti roll bars only. Take spring adjustments away. ARB and damper adjustments are easy to understand, and get you 90% of where you need to be as far as setup is concerned. Once they added springs into the equation, my testing took me much longer to find that ideal setup. I LOVE testing, so it was all fun for me, but I can see how the casuals won’t like it.



Or….




Just the ability to copy/paste tunes from the leader board

Three season with Ferrari got me cracking up!😂 I agree with you big time though.

 

[Zorz]

Just done a full length practice run for the X2019, here's what I've found for anyone who may not get much time themselves.

The Softs lasted around 9 laps after starting on them, with the left rear hitting 0% at Stavelot and the rear right hitting 0% at the bus stop. If you're going for a 1-stop, the Mediums can take 13 laps with a bit to spare but fuel will then be a concern for those in GT1 with the 22 lap race. Stretching 13 laps out of a full tank will require some fuel saving across the entire stint. The full GT1 race ended up being about 42:20 in total for me.

There may be merit in starting on the Mediums and going 12M/10S. 12 laps should be safe on fuel, but whether the slightly lighter fuel load for the Soft stint will make it possible to squeeze an extra lap out of them, I haven't tested. I'm not sure a 2-stop is worth it going by my lap times, but I could be wrong.

 

[SPL170db]

I noted the same in doing a race sim. Kie did state that it might be worthwhile to start on RS to try and pull away and stay out of as much dirty air as possible as these cars create alot of it.

 

[OJBrit]

Final Manu standings.

I think this shows a consistency. I finished 2nd in each Gr3 race and 14th in each Gr4 race. If the M4 was a bit more competitive in the race then maybe a better result could have happened.

Onwards to Nations.

 

[D_Dragline]

I think you might be going a little to strong here especially when it’s only partially suspension tuning… First and for most every round didn’t allow tuning… The tuning aspect in my opinion is nothing like what you get in ACC in where you need a setup to be competitive… Driving the The 458 I wish they let us tune for the whole series… while the stock set isn’t bad it isn’t the best… and when PD let us tune in certain rounds it helped me drive the car better because I was a lot more comfortable in the car… It didn’t make me gain another second but I was a lot more consistent because the car felt better. In that Bathurst round I needed that bad how demanding the track was.

I think you’ve missed his point. He’s not talking about driveability of individual cars, he’s saying the problem is that tuning makes the playing field more uneven. So while tuning might make your Gr3 Ferrari 0.5 seconds better, it also makes the Genesis 1 second better.

@Rangeraus is at the very pointy end competing for world finals. These differences impact him and those like him materially. I can absolutely see his point and agree wholeheartedly that if tuning (and by extension a market in tunes) results in driving skill becoming a secondary factor, then that’s a huge problem at the top-end.

 

[SupaflyIRL]

I've had a black screen twice tonight while re-oiling my redbull. Never had that happen with any other car before.

Not a total freeze because I can see the time change, but everything below the top menu bar is black. Reset PS5 and the oil was changed. Did some driving. Happened again.

 

[Yard_Sale]

I think you’ve missed his point. He’s not talking about driveability of individual cars, he’s saying the problem is that tuning makes the playing field more uneven. So while tuning might make your Gr3 Ferrari 0.5 seconds better, it also makes the Genesis 1 second better.

@Rangeraus is at the very pointy end competing for world finals. These differences impact him and those like him materially. I can absolutely see his point and agree wholeheartedly that if tuning (and by extension a market in tunes) results in driving skill becoming a secondary factor, then that’s a huge problem at the top-end.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the official season just standard BOP cars? I think it’s only been these last 2 exhibition seasons that have allowed light tuning. It wouldn’t surprise me if PD has opened up limited tuning in the daily’s and these last 2 exhibition seasons, in an effort to ‘crowd source’ the tuning for potential BOP tweaks - to see what people are doing on a variety of tracks. Would actually be smart of them to do this in addition to their own in-house testing.



But I do still believe that very little suspension tuning is good, as long as it’s kept to dampers/arb. The minute they add ride height, LSD, more intricate suspension, ballast or downforce tuning…then it becomes waaaaaaay too much

 

[jimihemmy]

I've had a black screen twice tonight while re-oiling my redbull. Never had that happen with any other car before.

Not a total freeze because I can see the time change, but everything below the top menu bar is black. Reset PS5 and the oil was changed. Did some driving. Happened again.

I have been having that happen lately regardless of vehicle.

 

[Rangeraus]

I think you might be going a little to strong here especially when it’s only partially suspension tuning… First and for most every round didn’t allow tuning… The tuning aspect in my opinion is nothing like what you get in ACC in where you need a setup to be competitive… Driving the The 458 I wish they let us tune for the whole series… while the stock set isn’t bad it isn’t the best… and when PD let us tune in certain rounds it helped me drive the car better because I was a lot more comfortable in the car… It didn’t make me gain another second but I was a lot more consistent because the car felt better. In that Bathurst round I needed that bad how demanding the track was.

My preference in that case would be for the base setup to be improved to a more neutral setup, then have that setup locked for BOP, where the power and weight can then be adjusted accordingly. The 458 GT3 is not an easy car to drive quickly on most tracks, it has a tendency to kill the rear tyres and is very skittish when there are a lot of bumps or big kerbs.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the official season just standard BOP cars? I think it’s only been these last 2 exhibition seasons that have allowed light tuning. It wouldn’t surprise me if PD has opened up limited tuning in the daily’s and these last 2 exhibition seasons, in an effort to ‘crowd source’ the tuning for potential BOP tweaks - to see what people are doing on a variety of tracks. Would actually be smart of them to do this in addition to their own in-house testing.

Official seasons have to-date been fixed setups barring one or two rounds. But it is hard to know exactly what PD intend to do... They could just be allowing partially open settings in this exhibition season (because nothing is on the line) just to see if it works without any technical issues. They could be testing it with the intent of keeping it and possibly opening up even more tuning in future, they could be doing it to help "crowdsource" setups in order to fix the base setups, or something else.

As of a previous GT7 update, there are 3 BOP levels (high-speed, medium-speed, and low-speed) for different track types, presumably as a placeholder to even out the BOP across the board. But last time I checked, there is zero difference between those levels/setups for each car. To me that indicates that PD intended to further equalise the BOP across the board, but introducing tuning does the opposite, for reasons I posted above.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Heavy damage is a joke, there is nothing stopping reckless or dirty players continuing to crash into everyone once they've compromised their own races by crashing. So what issue is it solving?

This was six minutes into a 45 minute race and he ended up quitting about 10 minutes after he caused damage to four cars through incidents he created.

 

[CooLerSIK]

B/S
Well, P3 and 117 points in the first race, although it was definitely an easy P2. But the Russian space program happened.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Lost out on P2 because some overseas griefer kept giving me damage whenever I attempted to pass him. Very aggravating.

Same guy who did this last time I raced him at Spa:

 

[OJBrit]

B/S
Well, P3 and 117 points in the first race, although it was definitely an easy P2. But the Russian space program happened.

I suppose now the Americans are looking at the Moon again, Russia needs to step up.

I looked at this round as perhaps a chance to get some good points. Generally I've done well in X2019 rounds. I can handle it better than most of my immediate peers and even an odd spin or two doesn't harm me racewise.
Things looked good as my laps were only 2 seconds off @Zorz and @LVS_1986 on the leaderboard. A lot closer than I would normally find myself. The only issue was the last chicane where it could get wobbly but the rest of the lap seemed to be fine.

I qualified P6. A struggling Austrian pulled over as I closed and I thanked him after the session.

I decided to go for Mediums at the start as I was far enough of the leader to perhaps take the advantage later in the race. I was not prepared for the pre chicane start. P7 slid past and I ducked underneath them. P5 stopped on the apex of La Source but my slight tap was fine. P4 had a 2 second penalty. I got past P5 when they went deep into Les Combes and got P4 with their penalty. I was perhaps gaining tenths here and there on P3 only for the car to freak out randomly between the Stavelots. Once this car tank slaps I think it is 100% impossible to recover. Down the order I go. For some reason the car feels a lot worse than normal. The breaks are crap even with BB forward to help the rears. I was finding so much random understeer. (This is perhaps one of the few cars I don't get it.) Across the next few laps the car would spin out or go wide and spin out. Eventually it settles down and I catch pitters. A few spin and I get past. One car seems to slow too much into the last chicane and I tap them causing them to skid wide but not out and they duck straight into the pits. I get a 3 second penalty for that. Seems very harsh. Then the car right ahead understeers wide through Ickx and I have nowhere to go except into the their rear corner spinning them out. I don't get an extra pen for that so I'll take the 3 seconds for that rather than the pathetic reason I was given it instead. I then pit on lap 8. I am far behind the main pack but have a chance to pick off 2 stragglers ahead. That I do. One goes wide into La Source and the other has issues and pulls over out of Fagne. I finish P13 in the end. I'm very annoyed with myself. Perhaps the track is too difficult for the car on mediums. More likely I was overdriving after my first off which caused other spins. I never felt settled with the car which I normally do. Because it was not behaving I'm not going to go again.

Good luck all.

 

[MetalApe]

Race 1:
Haven't had time for too much practice before today, so going into race 1 with the idea it's more of a practice than a race.

Qualified 10th, so started on Mediums. Caught out by a first lap tag at Les Combes. No ones fault really, it's just so hard to cleanly get through the corners when it's getting crowded. Was going to do 4 laps on Mediums, leaving on 8 on softs. But had my own half spin turning into the bus stop at the end of lap 3, so seemed perfectly lined up to just go for the pits.

Overall it was just chaos all around, I think I was soon upto 11th despite having pitted and been off twice. Caught an agressively defending idiot, who then tagged me into spin exiting the bus stop after I was as good past him. After that I ran clean to the end, but with lots more spinners around, including two just ahead at the start of the last lap, I somehow end up in 7th.

Race 2:
Poor qualifying leaves me down in 13th, but first lap trouble for everyone else soon sees me upto 8th. Pit after 3 laps and get clear track. A couple of laps later frustratingly a car comes out the pits just in front.

My advice for this race is avoid fighting side by side, these cars are so hard to drive and don't assume the driver you're fighting with has time to watch the radar. So I was hoping to wait for a mistake to give me a chance to pass, sure enough he loses the rear out the bus stop so through I go. Only to get another car come out the pits just in front!

We did manage a couple of respectful side by side moments into the corners before he found the speed to pull away. From here on it was a clean run 6th. Disapointed I didn't get all the chaos of race 1, to combine with my clean second race. But I think 6th was the best I could do this time out, so will probably bank the result. Or maybe I'll be tempted to try again later...