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.

 

[VTEC Driver]

Most probably my request has been already discussed... but this is my need.

I have some Gr.3 cars in my garage and I would like to test them on the circuits of the coming Manufacturer Cup.
In the championship a BoP will be applied.
How I can apply the same BoP on my cars?
There is a quick way to do it? Or do I need simply to reduce at a specific pp (and how much)?

Thanks!

 

[Andy Lapi]

Go to lobby and participate or create one..then you can select « with friends only » to be alone unless one of your friend joins..) and put the same settings of the race including BOP..

 

[VTEC Driver]

Go to lobby and participate or create one..then you can select « with friends only » to be alone unless one of your friend joins..) and put the same settings of the race including BOP..

ok, I am almost there.
My point is how to replicate the same BoP, where I can find the setup of BoP of the race?
In the event information I don't see any detail about that.
Thanks.

 

[Moose78]

Go to lobby and participate or create one..then you can select « with friends only » to be alone unless one of your friend joins..) and put the same settings of the race including BOP..

Another option is Custom Races. There is an option you can use to apply the BoP settings to your car for the race.

The nice thing about Custom Races is that you can pick up decent credits while you practice.

The one downside is that you always need to have one opponent. If you want to do a test race on your own, you might find yourself bumping into an AI driver from time to time.

 

[Famine]

My point is how to replicate the same BoP, where I can find the setup of BoP of the race?
In the event information I don't see any detail about that.

You just need to set it so BOP is on. It's one-size-fits-all.

 

[VTEC Driver]

You just need to set it so BOP is on. It's one-size-fits-all.

Sorry but despite my age I am a nebbie…
Where I can find the information about the BoP will be applied in the coming race that I can easily apply on my custom race?
Is it just weight and power?
Because if I put a car to 700pp (as example) reducing power it is not realistic… another car could reduce much less power to reach such pp but will remain more competitive with the lower weight.
I saw that BoP is a mix of increasing and decreasing weight a power in different way for each car.
In order to select the “best” car for the coming Manufacturer Cup I would like to test some cars with the proper BoP… but I am not finding the way…

 

[Famine]

Where I can find the information about the BoP will be applied in the coming race that I can easily apply on my custom race?

There's no information to find. BOP is on or off. It's on.

If you turn BOP on in your practice race/lobby, your car will be set to BOP conditions, matching the official race.

 

[VTEC Driver]

There's no information to find. BOP is on or off. It's on.

If you turn BOP on in your practice race/lobby, your car will be set to BOP conditions, matching the official race.

Ok. Good to know.
I will have a look because I never tried.
Thanks a lot.

 

[tmtk]

I'm not sure I did myself a favour or disservice...

Always chose manufacturers by heart or by performance.
This is clearly an outlier, raced the gr.3 once with my beloved Titans, but in GTWS capacity?
Wonder if I'm gonna gain any DR with this.
We shall see...

 

[Moose78]

I'm not sure I did myself a favour or disservice...

Having gone with Suzuki a couple seasons ago, I'd guess the latter. 😬 Wish you the best of luck, though. I'm sure you'll do better with it than I did.

And good luck to everybody else racing!

 

[tmtk]

Having gone with Suzuki a couple seasons ago, I'd guess the latter. 😬 Wish you the best of luck, though. I'm sure you'll do better with it than I did.

And good luck to everybody else racing!

If you didn't do good with it, I'm not very optimistic for myself.
Maybe in GT2 there will be chances to beat someone, but not sure it'll be enough to reach top 8 (to not loose DR).

 

[Norbsthebald]

If you didn't do good with it, I'm not very optimistic for myself.
Maybe in GT2 there will be chances to beat someone, but not sure it'll be enough to reach top 8 (to not loose DR).

To be fair, I did get a Suzuki into P2 in a GT2 Nordschleife race once, qualifying suggested that it'd rain halfway through the last lap of a 3-lapper so gambled on pitting for IM after lap 2, one of only 3 cars to do so. I went from P14 at Metzgefeld to P2 at Hohe Acht once the rain started. The 3 of us that pitted finished 1-2-3 ( a Ferrari, me and a Supra) and the entire rest of the field timed out!
So it can happen, you might need to take a bit of a punt on strategy though.

 

[VTEC Driver]

I'm not sure I did myself a favour or disservice...
View attachment 1435326

Always chose manufacturers by heart or by performance.
This is clearly an outlier, raced the gr.3 once with my beloved Titans, but in GTWS capacity?
Wonder if I'm gonna gain any DR with this.
We shall see...

On the other hand you could be the only one in your geographic area and then to get gold and the max of the money… 😎

 

[Gorefast]

I'm not sure I did myself a favour or disservice...
View attachment 1435326

Always chose manufacturers by heart or by performance.
This is clearly an outlier, raced the gr.3 once with my beloved Titans, but in GTWS capacity?
Wonder if I'm gonna gain any DR with this.
We shall see...

Funny because I considered to go with Volkswagen this time... 🤣 (But probably won't make it today and that is the race I am most interested in.) Good luck!

 

[SPDN Stefano]

I noticed there isn't a single BMW M6 in the top 100 of the Fuji practice leaderboard. Does it have the potential to be the fastest car on any of the other three tracks? I know its fast on tracks like Spa and Watkins Glen.

 

[Fezzik]

Funny because I considered to go with Volkswagen this time... 🤣 (But probably won't make it today and that is the race I am most interested in.) Good luck!

I had great fun in previous seasons racing the Beetle. Never brave enough to try the GTI.

 

[Tazzy-91]

Jesus...there is zero grip out there 🙈🤣 going to be fun in the GTR anyway

Edit:
I take that back....loads of grip 🤣🤣🤣🏆🏆🏆🏆

Not really much to report, I didn't see anyone around me after lap 1, just cruised around like I was out for a drive on a sunny day 😉 14 seconds of a gap was good going. Annoying that I didn't get the fastest lap but a clean race was far more important. I suppose I had better go to bed now after my night shift 😴😴

 

[Moose78]

If you didn't do good with it, I'm not very optimistic for myself.
Maybe in GT2 there will be chances to beat someone, but not sure it'll be enough to reach top 8 (to not loose DR).

One thing you should know about the car is that it needs to be short-shifted. Check out @Tidgney's profile of the the car to see how it's done:

 

[tmtk]

To be fair, I did get a Suzuki into P2 in a GT2 Nordschleife race once, qualifying suggested that it'd rain halfway through the last lap of a 3-lapper so gambled on pitting for IM after lap 2, one of only 3 cars to do so. I went from P14 at Metzgefeld to P2 at Hohe Acht once the rain started. The 3 of us that pitted finished 1-2-3 ( a Ferrari, me and a Supra) and the entire rest of the field timed out!
So it can happen, you might need to take a bit of a punt on strategy though.

Lol, I remember that round.
I pitted on EVERY lap: started on hards, went for IMs in lap 1 and they were shot at the end of it, so pitted for full wets in lap 2.
Emerged 7th out of the pit lane with 30-something seconds deficit and ended up winning it, cause everyone basically crawled after Karussel/Hoche Acht. But that was with Ferrari.

Couldn't help but record the last lap:

 

[Zorz]

Lol, I remember that round.
I pitted on EVERY lap: started on hards, went for IMs in lap 1 and they were shot at the end of it, so pitted for full wets in lap 2.
Emerged 7th out of the pit lane with 30-something seconds deficit and ended up winning it, cause everyone basically crawled after Karussel/Hoche Acht. But that was with Ferrari.

Couldn't help but record the last lap:

I'm sorry, did I just watch a Ferrari strategy work?

 

[911RSR]

Jesus...there is zero grip out there 🙈🤣 going to be fun in the GTR anyway

Edit:
I take that back....loads of grip 🤣🤣🤣🏆🏆🏆🏆View attachment 1435372View attachment 1435373View attachment 1435374

Not really much to report, I didn't see anyone around me after lap 1, just cruised around like I was out for a drive on a sunny day 😉 14 seconds of a gap was good going. Annoying that I didn't get the fastest lap but a clean race was far more important. I suppose I had better go to bed now after my night shift 😴😴

Congrats for the victory!
If i may ask: I suppose this was a fully dry race?

 

[Cerebral303]

OK! What team am I going with? I have no idea whats good, whats meta, whats terrible and it doesn't matter because I'm D grade so my speed will be decided by how well I know the track and how much practise I do, and my result will depend on how many times I'm punted off so really I'm up for anything!

 

[Zorz]

OK! What team am I going with? I have no idea whats good, whats meta, whats terrible and it doesn't matter because I'm D grade so my speed will be decided by how well I know the track and how much practise I do, and my result will depend on how many times I'm punted off so really I'm up for anything!

I have a spreadsheet I use to pick a random manufacturer. If you're asking for suggestions, I just opened it and got Audi.

 

[Zorz]

I'm hoping I don't end up regretting this. My frustrations about the Wednesday time slots still stand, but I've decided I'm going to give this exhibition season a go. I'll actually be able to have a go at all 3 slots today if needed, as I've taken the day off work. I had a day of annual leave I didn't use last year that my work allowed me to carry across, but I'll lose it if I don't use it soon, so why not.

I've gone Chevrolet for this season after picking it at random. I get the impression it's going to be good at Tokyo Expressway and could blast past people down the Dottinger Hohe at the Nurburgring. Fuji and Autopolis on the other hand... not so much. It's just so big and heavy.

I can do the lap times, but I fear I'm going to get swarmed by Ferraris and Porsches as they seem to be everywhere in practice lobbies. I feel like I have to brake so much earlier than everyone else to get it to turn in for places like Coca-Cola. Had a few people go up my inside at 100R as well due to how unwilling it is to rotate.

Sector 3 is tough too, with the car going from "don't want to turn, don't want to turn" to "WEEEEEEE 360" if you're not extremely careful with the throttle. I've not driven the Corvette since GT Sport and wow, it spins up the rears in a flash.

 

[emGieT]

I noticed there isn't a single BMW M6 in the top 100 of the Fuji practice leaderboard. Does it have the potential to be the fastest car on any of the other three tracks? I know its fast on tracks like Spa and Watkins Glen.

I was considering BMW for that season, but after some tests I didn't pick this car. In theory It should be competitive but this car is such a b*tch on low gears. It's very hard to maintain traction, especially on hards. It has such a massive boost in the middle rpm's that it want to spin you out on every low speed corner...

 

[SPDN Stefano]

I was considering BMW for that season, but after some tests I didn't pick this car. In theory It should be competitive but this car is such a b*tch on low gears. It's very hard to maintain traction, especially on hards. It has such a massive boost in the middle rpm's that it want to spin you out on every low speed corner...

Yeah the Beemer is a handful on racing hards. Which car did you pick instead?

 

[MileHiMoto]

I've used the Ferrari in every Manu I've entered. Today I'm switching it up to the AM Vantage. Did some practice last night, car is surprisingly stable on the RH tires. It is a bit challenging to squeeze it through the chicane, but makes up the lost time on the straight. Good luck to all today!