Gran Turismo World Series (Manufacturers Cup 2025 Exhibition 3 season: 12 Nov - 29 Nov)

[Famine]

Started 12th, Wets to 15, Inters to finish, 6th.

Nothing happened in my race, but a LOT of people fell off and punted each other. One guy got a 3s yellow flag penalty for passing me on the straight... 🤷‍♂️

Was on course for an easy 2nd, 21M 7S, on softs, held off passing a struggling lambo still on wets for a lap, he messed up on turn two and gave me a sniff of the dry line on the next straight, I got past. At hairpin ...he span me round, he did stop for me to get going, but I span round again when I finally got back on track. Rejoined in 13th, then span again on the next lap turn1.... Finished 7th🙆‍♂️

..Previous 2 races finished 11th, got turned round twice in each🤬

Right in my rearview too 😁

 

[tmtk]

Done some testing beforehand and it turned out my pace on full wets is dismal here.
I don't know why exactly as I had no such problems on wet Spa, maybe it's track specific?
Huge wheelspin out of slow corners (turns 1 & 3) is killing speed and the more TCS the slower I go. Disastrous traction at turns 5 and 7/8 combination, hard to keep wheels in line.
My button throttle and AT are surely not helping the case.

In the morning I saw a stream from one of the asian drivers and he pulled off no stop IM strategy to the end.
I was sure I won't be able to nurse the tires to the end the same way, but that was the only option not to arrive last.

In FP mode I checked that I have basically the same laptimes on IMs from the start as on full wets (very slow laptimes, let's be clear, around 1:45s), so why not?

US first slot, GT2, all B drivers, 122 points for the win (at last more normal lobby for me), door 8.

Qualified 5th with 1:31 flat.
Start went slow, lots of aquaplanning and wheelspin, lost a position before first turn, by the end of lap 1 I was 8th.
But I was calm, I just had to endure those first laps, loose what I have to loose and count on people pitting.

I was as low as 13th by the middle of the race, but after lap 14 the IMs started to come around slowly. Laptimes dropped, first I just stopped to loose time and then slowly building the gap behind and catching those ahead.
I don't remember doing any overtakes on track other than usual crash&offtrack casualties, when people started to pit I moved up the order. I was looking at people's strategy and it was clear that softs are NOT the option unless you're A++ or some raindancer. So RIP to soft users.

I was as high as 3rd around lap 24, but yeah, some people changed to IMs and those were the threat.
My tires were basically gone on last two laps and that's where I lost positions, but managed to cross the line 5th! Yay!

That 5th place got me 102 points and that was my minimum goal before the race.
Very happy I made it work!

 

[Skidude88]

Famine? Purple Mazda? You just pipped me on the line to 6th. Glad nothing happened to you!

 

[Famine]

Famine? Purple Mazda? You just pipped me on the line to 6th. Glad nothing happened to you!

Yup! Was coasting the final lap because my fronts were about 15%... until I saw +2.1 become +0.8 and got a bit concerned 😂

 

[Skidude88]

Yup! Was coasting the final lap because my fronts were about 15%... until I saw +2.1 become +0.8 and got a bit concerned 😂

I got on the wet on the last bend, but don't think I'd have got past ,even if I'd been on the grip.

 

[Thorson1987]

Was out yesterday so was planning to get a few of the night sessions in.

Turns out there is no 8pm timeslot so had to wait until 10pm which meant I only got the one race.

Completely stuffed qualifying.

Got a .5s penalty on my first flying lap so served it on my second. And then forgot that you get the overrun time so could have got another lap in.

Started 7th, got up to 5th and then got spun back to 11th.

Worked my back way up to 3rd when I pit to put softs on for the last 6 laps and dropped back to 7th.

Noone else changed tyres so was playing catch up. Got into 6th, and as I was getting to 5th I hit the wet part of the track and ran wide on the last lap. Still nearly managed to get him but just needed one more corner.

 

[TinleyPork]

Overtook someone for p5 on last lap only to have him dive bomb me and spin me out back to p9. **** that guy.

 

[nostradavor2]

if I'll have time to enter, my plan is to finish the race somehow

guys I actually q3 and finished 4th.. cant believe it.. could've probably do better but.. first spa and atlanta 13th and 12th.. Interlagos 6th and now this is good improvement.. I need to upgrade tho on ds4 buttons playing and probably car lol

 

[VillaJ100]

Just did my race. B/S lobby. Poor qualy started 11th on IM. Was battling with a dude 'kala-port' for most of the first 2/3rds, by lap 20 leader was 30 secs ahead. Slowly reeled in the people ahead, barely anyone stopped but most started on W. Fell victim to some rough driving from the angry W starters and got ounted wide a couple of times, as well as a very harsh 3 secs for overtaking on a yellow when someone had spun. In the end Kala-port finished 2nd and I finished 5th having reduced the gap to the leader to 18 secs but getting caught up in knots with other drivers for longer.

 

[Pakiti]

There are some good tips in @Tidgney's guide from when this combo was a time trial:



A few things have changed since then -- BoP changes and a reduction in the amount of slipperiness on the racing line when it is wet -- so you might not be able to replicate the same lap times, but I'd say the general approach to doing a lap is still valid.

As in "everything has been done before in The Simpsons", "@Tidgney has had it all before."))
Thanks for the advice!

Try not to brake too hard in the wet. Think of braking into a turn as the opposite of accelerating out of the turn; it's all about finesse both sides of the apex.

TC: 1
BB: Car dependent. I would say if your car is getting loose under braking then start pushing the BB towards the front.

39.6 in the Citroen in the full Wet territory.

Thanks for the advice! The +2 on the front really helped, I can actually find the tempo!

 

[A_Higher_Place]

What's been the general tyre strat for this one? IMs the whole way? Pit mid way for them? Not having much time to practice

 

[Pakiti]

Wow! I won on my second attempt. It was a great race, not a very good qualifying, since I hadn't practiced on a dry track, P6. Remus managed to gain three positions right off the bat. He may have been a bit aggressive, which I regret, but anything can happen on the first lap, and I definitely didn't knock anyone out, and that's the main thing. I quickly passed the second lap driver and started chasing the first. I decided not to risk overtaking, since we were going at a good pace, with a gap to the third lap driver. I pressured him, he made a mistake and received a 0.5-second penalty, where I passed him and started to pull away around lap 8. And then I drove almost alone the entire race. A fairly easy, albeit tense, P1.

But the best part was the first attempt! I put my two-year-old down for a nap, warned my wife, and went. Terrible qualifying, due to the rain tires in the dry qualifying – P10. But the race was great, I quickly moved up to P6 and there were four cars in front of me, what a fight it was! We were passing each other for 10 laps, everyone was going at about the same pace, everyone was very respectful, leaving each other room. Once I knocked out a competitor in Remus and gave him back the position, now that's what I call racing, no mess! Probably the best race ever. But then my two-year-old runs out of bed and I have to quit the race because we don't allow him to watch TV.

What's been the general tyre strat for this one? IMs the whole way? Pit mid way for them? Not having much time to practice

Start and all the way on W, closer to the 20th lap on IM.

 

[ZEE]

Well today was very eventful for a RBR Race, 5pm slot EMEA/GB Region!

The weather in the Uk mimiking the race sumwhat! Also as @Moose78 said the weather was oh so scripted, dry qualifying got ruined by a poor lambo racer with ping pong lag that i ended up rear ending and getting a collision penalty and slowed down for 3secs, losing the last lap run for qualys to a dum technicality and lost ranking.

Anyways, started a 13th to work my way up the field in the pouring rainy laps 1&2 where I pushed the Lexus to the max on grip on wet tyres. Managed to ply my strategy up unitl 22 laps and then made the risque choice to change to RS tyres and almost spun exiting the pits and got a 3sec aagain - Wonderfull ffs!!

So carried on, I had been battling a german in a Porsche but he used this chance to pass me ten fold, was so annoyed. Almost had a tail wiggle crisis on lap 24 and spun out on turn 1, had to recover to keep my positon and then spun out again it was so bizarre, but maybe I hit a wet patch and it got me not quite sure. Will review replay once more. Keep jostling and trying my best to reign in my 7th place and would only try this race once today!!

Bring on a drier Round 5, Blue mooning!!

Spoiler: Cool wet race photos - Round 4!

 

[nostradavor2]

What's been the general tyre strat for this one? IMs the whole way? Pit mid way for them? Not having much time to practice

if you're on wheel, no stop is probably best solution.. I play on buttons so I went W and than IM...

 

[DanHOW]

I’m thinking about trying a no stop IM strategy. Those first 5-10 super wet laps don’t seem fun though.

 

[Andy Lapi]

Started 12th, Wets to 15, Inters to finish, 6th.

Nothing happened in my race, but a LOT of people fell off and punted each other. One guy got a 3s yellow flag penalty for passing me on the straight... 🤷‍♂️


Right in my rearview too 😁

Hello Famine I was in your race, quali was very bad..I did it on wet mode nearly 1,5 s more that I should have done, I was 14 or 15…but I had the good strategy seen on asian races… inter with no stop TC2 then TC1 I overtake the 1st in last corners he probably had dead Wet tyres… still some races like that to go back to A rank I lost some months ago 😁

 

[VTEC Driver]

EMEA GT2 - 18:00 Q10/P8

Started with full Wet, TC4, AT.
The start was clean for me, I saw some contacts around between T1 and T2.
This gave me the opportunity to pass some cars and I reached P5.

I did some minor mistakes and I was passed by a train of cars and now in P12.
In reality the race was highly equilibrated and I wasn’t capable to pass.

Lap after lap I was thinking when change tires and what to put.
Lap 20 is coming but the track is highly wet out of the drying line and this means no overtake or high risks.
Someone in first positions went to change tires and this made even closer all the group.

When the cars in front of me started to change tires I gained position and then I thought why change tires and decided to not change tires also because others were doing the same thing
Looking for any centimeters of wet track I kept tires in good conditions and in the last lap I overtook cars spinning on destroyed tires.

The race can be done without changing tires in low B lobbies for sure.
Without mistakes done here and there I could finish around 3-4 position…

Now we move to Blue Moon Bay… where I have zero experience and a Megane Trophy driven only one time awaiting for me…

 

[Talon16]

What's been the general tyre strat for this one? IMs the whole way? Pit mid way for them? Not having much time to practice

Digit had very good luck/results with the IM no stop.

 

[Moose78]

Team Ford (attempt #1) - Ford GT Race Car '18 - GT2 - Americas - 10 AM EST - 133 points available - Door #2 - Q10 (1:31.177)

Apparently I'm not very fast at this track when its dry. I could only muster a Q10. No matter. It was raining, and I W tires on. It only took a few laps to work my way to the front, where I battled for the lead with a GT-R until they went in for IMs on lap 15. I stayed out to lap 20 and pitted for RSs.

I felt pretty confident that I could follow the dry line. After all, I'd practiced it in Free Practice. No problem, right? Well, it didn't go as planned.

The dry line was much narrower than what I'd practiced. I went off the track so many times, and even when I was able to keep the car on the track, I had to baby it so carefully through the corners that I was losing time everywhere.

Finished P8 for 94 points and a 0.3% DR gain, but was determined to try again.



Team Subaru - Subaru BRZ GT300 - GT2 - Americas - 12 PM EST - 133 points available - Door #7 - Q11 (1:31.866)

In my Ford race, the winner had done a 15W-13IM strategy, but going back and watching the replay, they came out of the pits in P12 and only managed the win because of a massive pace advantage. Pace is something I don't really have at this track. I saw that the P2-P4 cars in that race were all running IM no-stop strategies, so I decided to give that a try for this race.

Things were going pretty well for the first few laps. I'd climbed my way up to P8. Then I spun out at turn 4 and dropped back down to P14.

It got frustrating for a while. I felt I was faster than the cars ahead, but it was really difficult to get any moves done. Even when I got a better exit out of a corner, the Subaru, with its dreadful lack of top-end speed, could only manage to get side-by-side with the car ahead and I'd have to back out at the next corner.

As the race went, though, I was able bit-by-bit to get ahead. Towards the end, there were several drivers that were trying a no-stop on the W tires. They were easy pickings.

I crossed the finish in P4 for 116 points and a 3.6% DR bump. Good enough. I feel like I was capable of a podium finish here, but it isn't worth the hassle to try again.


Team Ford (attempt #2) - Ford GT Race Car '18 - GT2 - Americas - 2 PM EST - 155 points available - Door #14 - Q9 (1:31.302)

Another attempt at a no-stop IM strategy.

This time, I screwed up even earlier. It was on lap 2. At T4. Again.

I spent a lot of the race battling with a couple other Canadians. One was on a no-stop W strategy. Once the rain stopped, they were pretty easy to get by.

The other was on the same strategy as me. We exchanged positions a few times, but eventually they got ahead of me and I wasn't able to catch them.

It didn't really matter much because as the cars ahead pitted and crashed, we rolled our way to the podium, for a P2-P3 finish. 142 points and a 4.9% DR increase.

That was a fun day of racing!

What's been the general tyre strat for this one? IMs the whole way? Pit mid way for them? Not having much time to practice

I've had good results with a no-stopper on IMs. They have no wear until the track starts drying out. At the finish, they are around 50% worn. Very manageable. No real tire saving required.

 

[Dragonwhisky]

Newb question here. How does one change tire grades between qualifying and race?

 

[afc5150]

I made the no stop on IM work in slot 1 of GT1 Americas. Went Q12 to P7 for 129 points. More than I was expecting, really. I was seriously compromised by some douche nozzle on his out lap while I was on my first hot lap. He then disconnected as we rolled off the line. I'd like to think the racing gods did that to him.