Gran Turismo World Series

[Wilsonson]

I managed to get into the last slot of the day and even had 45 minutes to practice. GT2 B/S lobby for 104 points.

After finding that the slow down by TC3 was worth it for me I finally managed to string together valid laps and slowly improved.

Qualified pole on the very last lap by beating my FP PB.

My start was suboptimal and I went into T1 very cautiously which resulted in P2 getting me. On the other hand he threw the car away on the third S right afterwards. Well then I botched Degner 1, went wide into a bit of gravel and went back to P3 approaching the hairpin. At least I got this nice shot from the 1991 season out of it. Michael Schumacher in his rookie car Jordan getting overtaken by future (1992) world champion Nigel Mansell. Technically Schumacher got poached by / sent to Benetton after his Spa debut and never raced this car in Suzuka.

The rest of the race went similarly. I even managed to spin after getting wide through T1. This resulted in a little battle with a back marker resulting in this lovely pic. This time Schumacher and Alain Prost.

Overall a disappointing P9. This beast is just too tough for me. It was still a bit of fun nonetheless. I just need to finally become a consistent driver.

 

[tmtk]

Luck in first two laps plays a big role in this race.
In my first try I clearly wasn't lucky escaping the usual carnage, digging myself out of the gravel twice.
After that the race was basically over, finished 10th with points to discard.

Had to try again.

My strategy for this round was: points through perseverance - get to lap 3 with minimal losses, keep my head down, run my pace and pick whatever those more unlucky this time around are giving away.

GT2, second US slot, lowish B lobby, 90 points for the win

Qualifying: I pulled 36.3 out of nowhere, half a second faster than I ever lapped with this combo and it still was good enough for 9th only.
Pole sitter into mid 34s - mental!

Start went good. Caught up with some slower starters, but positioned myself in the middle of three car sandwich on the way to the first corner, so decided to brake early not to get involved with inevitable crash. There was one and two cars found themselves wide off the track. Hitter ahead contracted damage so I caught up to them through the esses. Was even 5th for the moment after Degner, but at the hairpin one car spun on the exit and trying to avoid them I ran through grass briefly and some cars from behind could overtake me on the way to Spoon.
Was 10th for the moment, but after the penalty serving zone back to 8th.

Lap 2 - 7th after very good exit on the Dunlop curve.

Lap 3 - 6th after car ahead spins on 1st turn

Lap 5 - I'm catching up with two cars fighting intensively for 4th. Their contact in 1st turn allows me to get to 5th on the Esses.

Laps 5-8 - Driving between two cars, but the one in 4th pulls away gradually. Car in 6th behind me keeps yo-yoing, but the gap is regularly over 1 second.

Lap 9 - Car in 3rd spins out from the chicane to pit entry. Before they get out of it many seconds pass, rejoins in 9th. So we all gain one position.

Laps 10-12 - Driving now 4th, car in 3rd is far away, I'm slowly building gap to 5th.

Finish line in 4th!

Judging from the qualifying laps and the gaps I had to the cars ahead, I shouldn't be there. But hey, points through perseverance, right? 78 of them in such tough combo, good haul!

 

[MIE1992]

Q11/P5!!!!

 

[tankuroded]

Nations standings and cutline as of Round 4:

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

That was a strange race last night, I hated it but somehow got my best score of the season, the BoP was awful so it was like a multi-class race, on controller the understeer in this car is absolutely vile so you're a moving chicane through the esses, then it gets even worse because all that understeer overheats the front tyres by the end!

Slot 1 - S14 F8: This one was a toughie, I spun on lap 1 to drop to last but the first few laps were absolute carnage so I somehow ended up back in 5th with a lot of faster players behind, I tried to defend as hard as I could but the front tyres fell off towards the end.

Slot 2 - S16 F13 - The one where everything went wrong! I didn't get a good lap in early in qualifying but was on course to get up to around P10 with the final lap of the session but spun coming out of the final corner 🤦‍♂️The start was good but then there was an unfortunate incident leaving the hairpin, the car ahead didn't see me and the small touch sent us both spinning, racing incident but doomed us both to last.

Slot 3 - S11 F4 - The lessons learned from the first 2 attempts paid off here, not that quick in qualifying but I think it was pretty close to my limit, the first few laps were about avoiding the carnage which was worth a free 6 places then settling in to follow P4 to save the tyres (not using 100% brake pressure, only pushing the analogue stick half way, etc), the slipstream is strong enough that you can be dragged around even if you're a second off the pace. After a few laps the car I was following crashed with P3 which promoted me to the podium but it was never going to last with toy steering wheels behind, only 1 managed to pass though and 254 points is a lot better than I hoped for 😀

I'll try to get some clips uploaded in the next few days

 

[Moose78]

I ran the first GT1 slot in North America (9PM EDT). I was in door #5 in a low A/S lobby with 161 points up for grabs.

In qualifying, I posted 1:35.613, about 4 tenths back from my best in Free Practice. That landed me in Q10.

I followed @stpatty's starting technique -- TC2 from 2nd -- and immediately jumped three positions to P7 before reaching T1. An incident at Spoon gifted me three more. I came out of lap 1 in P4, on the bumper of the P3 car.

The slipstream gave me the speed to pull ahead on the front straight on the inside to T1. I took the corner shallower than usual to leave room for the other driver but I didn't slow down enough for T2 and ended up going out onto the tarmac. The other driver had their own problems. They hit the outside curb and went spinning off to Narnia. The driver behind the both of us happily drove past. I was able to rejoin right behind them, thankful to maintain P4.

Not much happened for a while after that. The driver ahead was faster than me and just drove away. For a while, I increased my gap to the cars behind -- getting it over 3 seconds -- but sometime around lap 7 the gap started shrinking rapidly. The faster drivers were catching up.

On lap 9, though, the polesitter, who had been leading the race to that point, spun the car out of the esses, They rejoined ahead of me. I knew they were faster than me, so I didn't expect to overtake them, but I hoped I might be able to ride their slipstream to pull away from the faster drivers behind me. That, unfortunately, didn't work out. The polesitter went for a spin at T1 at the start of lap 10. Promoted to P3.

By the start of lap 11, the driver behind me had caught up. I let them by at T1, knowing that if I tried to defend, I'd just slow us both down and let even more faster drivers catch up. Besides, I was quite happy to take P4 home if I could hold it.

That was going to be a challenge because another driver had caught up to me at the start of the final lap. Now, I was ready to defend. I managed to hold them off until we got to Casio Triangle. It was side-by-side and a drag race to the finish.

Sadly, they crossed the line first.

Still, it was a great end to what turned out to be a much more enjoyable race than I was expecting. P5, 134 points, and a DR boost.

 

[MIE1992]

I took a look at the current standings. Despite skipping that first round at Road Atlanta, I am actually now tied with someone for being the best GT2 driver in CT! Looks like I just gotta do my best for these last two rounds and I'll be locked-in as the best!

EDIT: I'm also within the top 150 GT2 drivers in the USA, and within the top 200 within my region! I can't imagine how high my ranking will be at the end of all this...

 

[stpatty]

I followed @stpatty's starting technique -- TC2 from 2nd -- and immediately jumped three positions to P7 before reaching T1.

I'm glad someone remembered. I was going to post last night that the amount of time between the grid rundown and the standing start isn't enough to get everything in order but then I realised I could have shifted up to 2nd at any point during the grid rundown so it seemed redundant by then.

 

[bliprunner]

Was in @GOTMAXPOWER 's second slot race and basically did the classic triple crown; average quali, crash by myself, then murdered by some cheat at the end.

Shame because I qualified in the top half, beat two people off the line and then got cocky on cold tyres in the dirty air, chucking it off the road at Degner 1. Think I may have tapped the car in front as I went spinning off and they went wide too. If so I should have got a penalty but of course didn't because the system is so poor.

So I was last but managed to do the rest of the race with no mistakes and took P8 on the final lap with a 100% clean move at the flat out left at the end of the back straight. Was on the inside and levelled them, I didn't nudge them or anything dodgy, turned left as soon I could but they turned into me.

I think they were already annoyed at the car in front of us for an overtake that happened a couple of corners earlier, so when we got to the final chicane they skittled all of us with a classic double punt, and drove off without a penalty into P7, because the system is, as mentioned, total arse.

Not ideal and think I finished P9. As the boy is now in GT1 I only have one slot to myself (the final slot is past his bedtime and the rig is in his room) and not having a second chance is getting annoying. I might have to punt my own son back to GT2...

 

[newmedia_dev]

I know it’s too early but the X19 isn’t the worse thing to drive and for me in all honesty better than the period F1 cars, track knowledge helps make it feel a little more manageable (and the stuff they do with the grip as well on these cars)

I need a much bigger round this next time points wise.

 

[Wilsonson]

… at the flat out left at the end of the back straight. …

I'm half kidding here, in case this maysound condescending (non native speaker). I just find it interesting that someone so good at this game doesn't know one of the most iconic corners in the world.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Was in @GOTMAXPOWER 's second slot race and basically did the classic triple crown; average quali, crash by myself, then murdered by some cheat at the end.

Shame because I qualified in the top half, beat two people off the line and then got cocky on cold tyres in the dirty air, chucking it off the road at Degner 1. Think I may have tapped the car in front as I went spinning off and they went wide too. If so I should have got a penalty but of course didn't because the system is so poor.

So I was last but managed to do the rest of the race with no mistakes and took P8 on the final lap with a 100% clean move at the flat out left at the end of the back straight. Was on the inside and levelled them, I didn't nudge them or anything dodgy, turned left as soon I could but they turned into me.

I think they were already annoyed at the car in front of us for an overtake that happened a couple of corners earlier, so when we got to the final chicane they skittled all of us with a classic double punt, and drove off without a penalty into P7, because the system is, as mentioned, total arse.

Not ideal and think I finished P9. As the boy is now in GT1 I only have one slot to myself (the final slot is past his bedtime and the rig is in his room) and not having a second chance is getting annoying. I might have to punt my own son back to GT2...

I'm sure I saw the guy who went bowling try to blame you for that somehow after the race🤯

 

[bliprunner]

I'm sure I saw the guy who went bowling try to blame you for that somehow after the race🤯

Pretty sure he got roughed up by the car in front and wanted revenge.

Didn’t save the replay but felt like a totally clean move. Maybe it looks different from his view…

 

[Zorz]

I've done a full race test for Trial Mountain going 17M/1H/12S. Fuel is not an issue whatsoever, even though the race has slow refuelling in the settings. You shouldn't need any.

Running BB 0, here's what the tyres looked like at the end of the Medium stint:

And then how the Softs looked at the end of the race:

For lap times, I was doing high 1:29s for the most part on the Mediums, moving into the low 1:30s towards the end of the stint. For the Hards, no idea but there's really no need to do more than 1 lap on them to meet the requirement.

For the Softs, I was doing low-mid 1:28s but those eventually fell off to high 1:29s over the last 2-3 laps. The Softs seem to have about 9 laps of superiority before the wear turns them into Mediums.

(For context on lap times - my free practice best is a 1:27.001.)

 

[Moose78]

I've been doing some strategy testing for Wednesday's race at Trial Mountain. Right now, it looks like the best combination of stint lengths for me is 11RS-18RM-1RH.

In my early tests I was able to get 14 laps out the softs, but as I've increased my pace (aggressiveness?) that has gone down to 12.

There is plenty of fuel to go the entire race without adding any. Even though they went with the 3L/sec filling rate again, I don't see there being any value in fuel saving this race.

More details in the spoiler section below.

Spoiler: Table and charts

Disclaimer: These test reflect my personal driving style and limitations. They definitely do not apply to everyone. I encourage everybody to run their own tests.

As usual, I ran custom races with the event fuel and tire multipliers on each compound (evening/S08 weather, equal conditions mode enabled). I ran each test race multiple times and composed an 'optimal' race, picking the fastest laps from each test.

Top level results:

Tire compound	Lspd	Opt time	Best time	Avg time	Total time
RS	12	1:29.909	1:30.279	1:30.964	18:11.572
RM	22	1:30.532	1:30.919	1:31.440	33:31.690
RH	8	1:31.843	1:32.102	1:32.803	12:22.424

Tire tread levels at finish:

Tire compound	Laps	Front left	Front right	Rear left	Rear right
RS	12	35%	60%	5%	30%
RM	22	40%	60%	20%	30%
RH	8	85%	90%	80%	85%

Using the lap times from the 'optimal' races, I simulated various strategies. These were the top 5:

Strategy	Total time
11RS-18RM-1RH	45:38.274
10RS-19RM-1RH	45:38.382
9RS-20RM-1RH	45:38.555
12RS-17RM-1RH	45:38.631
11RS-17RM-2RH	45:39.383

Raw data in this spreadsheet.

 

[SPDN Stefano]

This car/ track combination kinda feels like playing a old school Sega arcade game. The only thing that is missing is an announcer yelling "Checkpoint!" at every split. It is enjoyable to drive but I doubt the race will be very clean. I definitely wont be starting on hard, because the chance that somebody will put you into the wall is almost 100%. We'll see what happens.

 

[A1an]

I have made a GT Planet number decal if anyone is interested in using it in these races, all the details are in this thread https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gt-planet-logo-race-number-decal.431936/

This is what it looks like on my RB X2019 I have put this next to where the game puts the actual race number so it doesn't get covered up.

 

[Revengel]

This car/ track combination kinda feels like playing a old school Sega arcade game. The only thing that is missing is an announcer yelling "Checkpoint!" at every split. It is enjoyable to drive but I doubt the race will be very clean. I definitely wont be starting on hard, because the chance that somebody will put you into the wall is almost 100%. We'll see what happens.

I agree; this actually highlights my issue w/ the Red Bull car in general. I somewhat enjoyed F-Zero, but I love Gran Turismo.


This past weekend: I somewhat followed my actual plan. Qualified 10th, did spin out and go off road but finished 9th. Took my points, had some fun in single player and went to bed. Happy.



Separate subject - This is not a popular season . . . and I believe the numbers bear this out. The participation numbers are rather small. Here's how we can all test/verify this for ourselves:

In the current season, check your leaderboards for your region. Go to the last page and scroll to the bottom. For example, in North America I saw there were about 15+ folks tied for 353 - aka last - in North America . . . so that adds up to around 370ish total participants.

Then go to archive for the Manufactures cup series that just ended.

You'll find in the same part of the world there were close to 1,200 participants for that championship using the same method.

Does anyone else have the same feeling I do in regards to participation? Thoughts on why?

 

[newmedia_dev]

Does anyone else have the same feeling I do in regards to participation? Thoughts on why?

I’m not as seasoned as some here and definitely not as fast but I would agree the whole GTWS events are becoming a bit meh so participation is lows

More exhibition seasons and bop changes than races, re runs of previous races and even some daily C races repurposed to fit. This new 18 minutes of qualifying for a 20 minute sprint race etc etc.

So I can imagine there is very little desire to lap or sit in the pits, or do 30 mins with not strat races.

Manu is fractionally better in that there are some (50 % ) that are more worthy

So I’d agree with you whole heartedly.

The lack of thought out races that balance for fun or challenge in the context of a multiplayer experience is fundamentally broken in the multiplayer race selection across the board.

Sport not being the E sport pinnacle, the events being a bit meh etc

There is nothing inherently enjoyable in anything but the fastest lobbies.

 

[Moose78]

Does anyone else have the same feeling I do in regards to participation? Thoughts on why?

Definitely agree. Just as another datapoint, I've been having middling results in some of the the lowest splits of the GT1 league and somehow still ranking 139 in North America.

I'd put this down to two things:

1. The overuse of high-downforce cars this season. For anybody that doesn't enjoy driving the X2019 or the F3500-A, I can easily see why they'd sit at least those rounds out.
2. In North America, the time of the races this season for I'd guess nearly half of the region is really inconvenient, if not outright prohibitive. I expect a lot of drivers who might otherwise participate are just not bothering because of when they are scheduled.

 

[BluRacer7]

So far I remain in the Top 30 after 4 rounds. I have already used up my bad round in Autopolis, so I had to be as perfect as possible to score the remaining rounds on a high.

My first 2 rounds have been my best rounds with 2 Top 5 finishes, even the Lamborghini Aventador was my surprise race. The x2019 I had plenty of experience due to my strength of handling high downforce cars.

Round 3 I just knew it was a write-off from the start due to the track not being kind to pad players on tyres no matter how low the tyre wear setting is.

Round 4 was the round I was looking forward since I enjoyed the F3500-A but unfortunately I had a combination of poor racecraft, questionable sportsmanship from other drivers around me and been placed in might higher splits that are too fast for me to keep up despite my best efforts.

Round 5 is unknown to me since I barely race Trial Mountain backwards which I'm honestly terrified, but Round 6 has one of my strongest tracks in Gran Turismo so if I can score big there as well.

So far as of this season it's 10x better than the entire 2025 Manufacturers Cup combined which is saying much since I'm still not a fan of the currently driving physics the game uses since they introduced last year during the Live Events, I can't stand understeer.

 

[tankuroded]

The overuse of high-downforce cars this season. For anybody that doesn't enjoy driving the X2019 or the F3500-A, I can easily see why they'd sit at least those rounds out.

From what I heard, people also scoff at the (drivetrain-limited) Gr.3 races because they're Gr.3 races, seen as Manufacturers Cup thing.

 

[Cerebral303]

Suzuka Qualified 15th and finished 10th. Was mid pack for a lap or two until I went wide at 130R going round someone on the outside, clipped the grass and face planted the barrier on the opposite side. After that I was just happy not to finish last!

Now time for researching the next race, thanks for all the work you people do here in prep, and sharing it!

 

[Fezzik]

Does anyone else have the same feeling I do in regards to participation? Thoughts on why?

For me it's the dislike of the high downforce cars (and the Lambo/RA combo) combined with the release of another very good racing game. Playtime is limited and I just couldn't find the enthusiasm for these races. Didn't seem worth it just doing the Gr3 rounds.

 

[Revengel]

Definitely agree. Just as another datapoint, I've been having middling results in some of the the lowest splits of the GT1 league and somehow still ranking 139 in North America.

View attachment 1448741
I'd put this down to two things:

1. The overuse of high-downforce cars this season. For anybody that doesn't enjoy driving the X2019 or the F3500-A, I can easily see why they'd sit at least those rounds out.
2. In North America, the time of the races this season for I'd guess nearly half of the region is really inconvenient, if not outright prohibitive. I expect a lot of drivers who might otherwise participate are just not bothering because of when they are scheduled.

Fair enough!

So far I'm in a similar spot to you, @Moose78 :

Other than round 1, I'm consistent as all get out. I was in Manufacturers as well.

The difference for me is the following: I'm 1-and-done in each round so far. I plan on doing multiple heats for the final round because I love the race and it's not a school night. 11:00PM Eastern is too late for me during the week for a race I may like . . . but have to work the next morning (and Thursdays are one of my extremely busy days!) My hope is I do well enough in heat 1 tomorrow so I don't have to sweat the 11:00PM heat.

Good to know I'm not the only one in this boat.

 

[stpatty]

Trial Mountain in reverse is horrible. Full of blind corners over crests and lined with walls. And a terrible pit exit. Awful layout.

 

[newmedia_dev]

Trial Mountain in reverse is horrible. Full of blind corners over crests and lined with walls. And a terrible pit exit. Awful layout.

I don’t personally don’t find it any less awkward than the normal direction.

A couple of corner sequences actually flow better to me and the reversing the risk of the first “esses” to a more natural down hill to a straight feels more repeatable at a fast pace.

The first sector in reverse is a bit janky though I do agree.

 

[Wilsonson]

I actually like it. The right handed tunnel at the end is awkward because there is absolutely no marker for the optimal acceleration point. I go by feel and usually accelerate too early and then lift too much to correct and compromise the endless acceleration zone at the end. Everything else flows pretty nicely imo.

 

[A1an]

I know we need to use all the racing tires and thanks to Moose78 we have tire stats, I have done my pretty basic testing, the only thing I am wondering is, would it be better to use RH for the first couple of laps, then onto RM and finish on RS?

I've been doing some strategy testing for Wednesday's race at Trial Mountain. Right now, it looks like the best combination of stint lengths for me is 11RS-18RM-1RH.

In my early tests I was able to get 14 laps out the softs, but as I've increased my pace (aggressiveness?) that has gone down to 12.

There is plenty of fuel to go the entire race without adding any. Even though they went with the 3L/sec filling rate again, I don't see there being any value in fuel saving this race.

More details in the spoiler section below.

Spoiler: Table and charts

Disclaimer: These test reflect my personal driving style and limitations. They definitely do not apply to everyone. I encourage everybody to run their own tests.

As usual, I ran custom races with the event fuel and tire multipliers on each compound (evening/S08 weather, equal conditions mode enabled). I ran each test race multiple times and composed an 'optimal' race, picking the fastest laps from each test.

Top level results:

Tire compound	Lspd	Opt time	Best time	Avg time	Total time
RS	12	1:29.909	1:30.279	1:30.964	18:11.572
RM	22	1:30.532	1:30.919	1:31.440	33:31.690
RH	8	1:31.843	1:32.102	1:32.803	12:22.424

View attachment 1448629

Tire tread levels at finish:

Tire compound	Laps	Front left	Front right	Rear left	Rear right
RS	12	35%	60%	5%	30%
RM	22	40%	60%	20%	30%
RH	8	85%	90%	80%	85%

Using the lap times from the 'optimal' races, I simulated various strategies. These were the top 5:

Strategy	Total time
11RS-18RM-1RH	45:38.274
10RS-19RM-1RH	45:38.382
9RS-20RM-1RH	45:38.555
12RS-17RM-1RH	45:38.631
11RS-17RM-2RH	45:39.383

Raw data in this spreadsheet.

 

[tmtk]

Done some extensive testing again with this combo and what I know for sure is that I am absolutely unable to extract 12th lap from softs or 18th lap from mediums, so I am bound to do at least 2 laps on hards.

As for the order? I don't know, I usually started on mediums, then hards and softs for lowest fuel amount.

But maybe, if my qualifying is sh*rt , which might be because I feel like I have pace of DR D, maybe low C (being low-to-mid B), then starting on hards might be a way to escape (to the back) early battles on track which are even more deadly for my tires.

I fully expect this one to be my drop round. We'll see, good luck to all!