Gran Turismo World Series (Manufacturers Cup 2025 Exhibition Season 2: 12 Mar - 22 Mar)

[tmtk]

Hello everyone,

A bit under the radar, I got back to racing GTWS.
But due to unfavourable timeslots in my EMEA region, I opted to run on my US account with its much more convenient evening/late night slots.

Here's my overall result (still in GT3, but I just advanced to DR B with this account):

Yesterday's last race was quite interesting (not a fan of high downforce cars), from 15th on the grid (dead last, early quitter) to 6th on the finish line.
My qualifying was so bad that I ran off track on both laps and my first lap in the race (from standing start) was faster than the qualifying one I got counted.
In the race I just capitalised on the misery of others ahead (only one passed me back later on while doing fastest lap of the race), settled on some half-decent rhythm (1:41 laps), trying to stay out of trouble and 6th is way more than I expected.

 

[Revengel]

Well, that was fun. Kind of.

Spoiler: Setting the Scene . . .

First, I was initially conflicted with doing this race. I skipped the Kart race (and still glad I did) as I am not a fan of that car. However, I'm not a big fan of the Japan Super Formula cars for online races, and Suzuka has been a nemesis of mine for years.

What made me do it was the fact I was already having the best GTWS I've had in a very, very long time and I'd never won twice in the same season. I was going into Saturday on a winning streak . . . but knew that was going to collapse like a flan in the cupboard.

Another thing that made me do it - and I'm glad I did because it helped - was using GT Race Engineer. It's a free app; feel free to swing by the GT7 & PSVR2 Thread for more on that.

The last thing - and this was the kicker - was I had the chance to finish better than I ever had . . . but I was 3rd in the state. The other driver had done all three rounds and that was the difference; I calculated needed about 118 points in the final race to likely overtake him. However, there was a strong chance he would improve his point total as well.

Here's what I drive with:

Spoiler: My Setup

Logitech G923 Wheel and Pedals. I have the shifter but that doesn't work for sport mode.
Next Level Racing GT Racer Cockpit.
Buttkicker haptics run through SimHub - a BK gamer Plus bolted to the seat.
GT Race Engineer for verbal fuel/place/tire updates.

Most importantly for me: PSVR2

First place was so out of reach; it's a World Tour member.

Spoiler: Super Short summary of heat 1 & heat 2

The first two heats went about the same. I qualified in the middle of the pack - around 8th or so - but I'd move up. . . reasonably quickly. Starts were a "show" (one person spun out in front of me at the Start/Finish line in heat 1) but I would eventually get up to a podium position before I would "celebrate" by going off track into a beach somewhere (funny place to build a sandcastle) and would finish around 8th or so.

After the first race, I'd pocketed 119 points. After the second, I'd made off with 122. An improvement, but I felt like I needed more.

The final heat was a little different.

Spoiler: Final Heat

Something about GT Race Engineer for the VR crowd is if you want to drive with only car info (one step short of fully off) GTRE updates your poll position during qualifying in real time. It also tells you when your tires are getting up to temp and getting hot. All this came in handy as I qualified 4th.

Start was a disaster. I forgot to hold the brake while I was going for my TCS. Zero power and I quickly went down to 13th place before turn 1. Lucky me I'm on RM like the rest of the world and I just buckle down and begin to work my way up the field.

As some folks begin to pit - including some Warlock who went from RM to RS around lap 6 if I recall and wound up winning - I eventually find myself in first place! Said Warlock comes up from behind and passes me a lap before I pit. But shortly after that, I found myself back up to third!

Paying closer attention to the tire temps going into and coming out of the turns helped me with my lap times. Not having to move my eyes from the corner but still knowing my tires are too hot was (for me) a race saver.

There were a couple of mistakes that led one drive to catch me; another made a great pass with my no-longer-having-overtake self before we got to Casio Triangle, netting a 5th spot and 152 points.

A direct result of this?

Spoiler: Pic-tar

I got my 2nd in Maryland by FIVE points.

Here's a screen shot of where I wound up.

This is easily the best I've ever done in Nations.

My next step? Onto Manufacturers and my beloved BMW.


But that's for another post . . .

 

[A1an]

I am going to be using this for the Manufactures Cup, I have done some testing on the Nordschleife and Fuji, I just want to try out Tokyo tomorrow though.