Gran Turismo World Series (Manufacturers Cup Exhibition Season: Feb 5 - Feb 15)

[Moose78]

Here's my latest installment of Manu Cup selection tests. This one is from Rd.2 at Interlagos. Just as a refresher, I'm looking at manufacturers that no GT1 driver in Canada picked last season.

Here are the numbers (ordered by Opt Time):

Manufacturer	Model	Opt Time	Best Time	Total Time	Avg Time	Avg Dev
Hyundai	Genesis Gr.3	1:33.701	1:33.923	20:34.041	1:34.926	0:00.509
Renault	RS.0.1 GT3 '16	1:33.727	1:33.973	20:35.945	1:35.073	0:00.502
Dodge	Viper SRT GT3-R '15	1:34.126	1:34.289	20:37.953	1:35.227	0:00.493
Citroen	GT by Citroen Race Car (Gr.3)	1:34.441	1:34.798	20:41.364	1:35.490	0:00.450
Suzuki	SUZUKI VGT (Gr.3)	1:34.544	1:35.154	20:47.950	1:35.996	0:00.755

Lap times:

Interactive chart here.

Clearly, I'm not very consistent on this course, especially on the hard tires. My lap times are all over the place. At least the Opt Times correlate with the Total Times, so I feel the results aren't completely useless.

I was surprised that the Hyundai did so well here, being a FR car. I really expected the mid-engine Renault to dominate here.

As usual, I can't drive the Suzuki. It was also the first car that I tested, so the results were going to be doubly bad for it, anyway.

I expected the Citroen to do better here. It was the second car that I tested, and I felt like I was still getting reacquainted with the track for that test. Maybe if I ran it again, I'd see better results from it.

I ran all the cars with TC enabled. My default is to set TC 1, but I bumped that up to 2 for the FR cars (Hyundai, Dodge, and Suzuki) because I found that I was getting wheel spin coming out of some of the tighter corners. BB was 0 for all of the tests.

Raw data can be found in the spreadsheet here.

 

[Fezzik]

Always worry that doing 1 lap on hards last is risking the 1m penalty for not starting and finishing a lap on a required tyre... but someone can reassure me that it's fine!

It is absolutely fine, you will not get a penalty (likewise if you wait until the start of the final lap to use one of the compounds).

 

[Seth_Logan]

Hi guys, got one question on Manu selection: do you still get access to ALL the cars available to a Manu (for Nissan I believe that would be 6 cars) or do you have to choose one for each group?

 

[Talon16]

Hi guys, got one question on Manu selection: do you still get access to ALL the cars available to a Manu (for Nissan I believe that would be 6 cars) or do you have to choose one for each group?

You can use any car from that specific Manu. However, you will have to buy any of them that aren't given when you sign. Meaning, the Gr3 Nissan you're given is the 2018 GT-R. If you want to use the GT500 you'll have to own it. But you can use it for sure.

 

[Fezzik]

You can use any car from that specific Manu. However, you will have to buy any of them that aren't given when you sign. Meaning, the Gr3 Nissan you're given is the 2018 GT-R. If you want to use the GT500 you'll have to own it. But you can use it for sure.

This is of course assuming we will be able to use our garage cars, with all bugs sorted.

 

[jimihemmy]

This is of course assuming we will be able to use our garage cars, with all bugs sorted.

I am hoping that what the maintenance notice for the 7th will take care of.

 

[Famine]

Always worry that doing 1 lap on hards last is risking the 1m penalty for not starting and finishing a lap on a required tyre... but someone can reassure me that it's fine!

It's fine. You can't do it before starting lap one, and you can't do it right at the end of the final lap, but any other time is fine.

 

[Talon16]

I am hoping that what the maintenance notice for the 7th will take care of.

100%. I always use my own car for the livery!

 

[ElectricNaz]

On the TC Issue - I always drive these red bulls with TC5. Makes life so much easier.

In my head - yes I'm down a couple of tenths on absolute peak lap time (probably), but the risk of 2nd gear farting the car into the wall or onto the grass repeatedly over 22 laps is significantly reduced!!!!

Not a single chance I'm doing 22 laps in manual tomorrow. Decision made already, I'm tied 1st in Hampshire, 17th UK, 107th in EMEA, I don't need anything special tomorrow. Just want to bring it home and pick up 4.25m credits. Then get drunk because I'll have 2 days to recover before work on Tuesday haha

 

[appu]

After some practice, the Red Bull is actually fun to drive around Spa. I am using -4BB to get myself a bit of understeer because my biggest issue right now is that I keep turning in too much and hitting bollards. Mistah MCA also recommends using -4BB.

The -4BB should also be fantastic for the race as the Red Bull heavily suffers from rear tire wear (see Moose78's charts).

I feel like I have to scrape, scratch, claw my way for midfield positions and it's starting to wear me down.

It is your own fault for pushing so hard. A year ago, you were showing up in my lobbies and beating us. Should have been content with that.


But also, grass is greener on the other side. I am missing starting in bottom half these days. It means less pressure on me since I just need to not make mistakes and easily gain positions on others' misfortunes. Now I have to practice more than ever to avoid getting mobbed up which can send me tumbling down the field.

 

[icycls]

After some practice, the Red Bull is actually fun to drive around Spa. I am using -4BB to get myself a bit of understeer because my biggest issue right now is that I keep turning in too much and hitting bollards. Mistah MCA also recommends using -4BB.

The -4BB should also be fantastic for the race as the Red Bull heavily suffers from rear tire wear (see Moose78's charts).

It is your own fault for pushing so hard. A year ago, you were showing up in my lobbies and beating us. Should have been content with that.
View attachment 1352480

But also, grass is greener on the other side. I am missing starting in bottom half these days. It means less pressure on me since I just need to not make mistakes and easily gain positions on others' misfortunes. Now I have to practice more than ever to avoid getting mobbed up, sending me tumbling down the field.

Ha! Yeah, thanks for that, perspective is everything! It's my own fault, I've been limiting my racing on the main account to Gr.3 and only when I qualify well. My DR is likely a bit inflated to my pace; so when I get out of Gr.3 in these nation's races, I'm exposed a bit. For the most part, in the Gr.3 cat, I'm okay with midfield, I feel I belong and surrounded by good drivers.

Just a little burnout with the harried schedule, no biggie.

I don’t understand why PD are in such of a rush with Manus & Nations now.
I remember the first official season was over 12/14 races, then they changed it to just 6 races. That first year they mixed nations and manu together, which was awkward at times as you were practicing for then had to switch 3 days later. I prefer this new method of blocking each series together, but it feels very rushed now, especially if you only participate in one series. 3 weeks of racing (for each series) and it’s done. They could easily spread it out over the 6 weeks.

I wish PD would offer more championships throughout the year. Exhibitions seasons should definitely be longer and more often.

Yeah, I'm getting out of the rat race for these. I'm going to stop thinking of them as 'series' and just choose a-la-carte the races I'm interested in driving for awhile.

 

[CobraMJD]

Yeah. I probably should have mentioned that in summary. I always drive the X2019 with at least TC 1. I bump it up to TC 2 when the tires wear enough for the back end to start slipping out. I run with BB 0 because I'm too lazy to figure out what is optimal. I'm not sure what I had the steering sensitivity in the controller settings set to for those tests, though.

Those are the same multipliers that the GT1 and GT2 get. Same number of laps, too. The only differences are that GT1 get heavy damage, and GT1 have tire wear enabled during qualifying.

Nice, I will def use BB-1 or BB-2 to preserve the rear tires a little.
And want to do only 8 laps with Soft tires, but not sure if I do more than 1 lap with hards, I think your time on hard had some pit time included, no? I need to see how much I lose on hards, because your time with Medium is very good.

I thinking of doing Hard > Medium > Soft, specially my qualify were middle do bottom.

 

[Moose78]

I think your time on hard had some pit time included, no?

Yep, because I only did the one lap, that lap time included the autodrive out of the pits.

Edit: Races are going to be starting soon. Good luck, everyone! May your car always go where you point it.

 

[OJBrit]

It is an interesting strategy choice we've got. Why would you pick 1H-12M-9S over 1H-9S-12M? I'd have thought softs for the early laps would give you the best chance to clear the late pitters before the strategies converge. Doing medium's first is more likely to leave you back in traffic having to fight your way past on Softs in the final stint.

I'm also liking the idea of starting on Mediums if I qualify mid pack. Then choosing 12M-9S-1H if I'm running near the front and have a good chance of running in clear air on the softs. Or 12M-1H-9S if I'm still midpack in the hope I'll get clear air at the back.

If you go softs last they will have a longer life due to less fuel on board. So unless you're P1 and need the speed at the start I would suggest to go softs last.

 

[fardoche]

On the TC Issue - I always drive these red bulls with TC5. Makes life so much easier.

In my head - yes I'm down a couple of tenths on absolute peak lap time (probably), but the risk of 2nd gear farting the car into the wall or onto the grass repeatedly over 22 laps is significantly reduced!!!!

Not a single chance I'm doing 22 laps in manual tomorrow. Decision made already, I'm tied 1st in Hampshire, 17th UK, 107th in EMEA, I don't need anything special tomorrow. Just want to bring it home and pick up 4.25m credits. Then get drunk because I'll have 2 days to recover before work on Tuesday haha

I am considering the same, I practiced with TC2 seems to be the sweet spot for me.
This redbull car is crazy unforgivable on the throttle, very hard to control a slight oversteer. It just snaps.

It feels like cheating at first, but it may cost some time...
And, last Wednesday Daytona race, I was driving with the 787b gearing down to 1 on the entry, then gearing back up to 3rd on the exit: it's basically TC in disguise.

 

[ElectricNaz]

It feels like cheating at first, but it may cost some time...
And, last Wednesday Daytona race, I was driving with the 787b gearing down to 1 on the entry, then gearing back up to 3rd on the exit: it's basically TC in disguise.

As controller player, I struggled with the double shift up from 1 to 3. So I did a slow turn in 2nd gear with a quick shift into 3. Again, for me consistency. I use the thumb stick as the gear up and down, it feels right, but really tricky to skip a gear and go from one to three. But it kinda worked for me, as I said earlier not the quickest but it just worked

 

[Talon16]

As controller player, I struggled with the double shift up from 1 to 3. So I did a slow turn in 2nd gear with a quick shift into 3. Again, for me consistency. I use the thumb stick as the gear up and down, it feels right, but really tricky to skip a gear and go from one to three. But it kinda worked for me, as I said earlier not the quickest but it just worked

It's the same for wheel players, mate. Hit that upshift paddle twice back-to-back and sometimes you only get one upshift. So yea, just gotta be careful.

 

[CobraMJD]

I was training today again the Red Bull and got 1:55.1xx with Hard tires, I didn't try again with soft, but the hard tire seems more viable for me now, maybe I will do a few laps with it, to get the mediums and soft more life, let see.
I'm not GT1 so is not easy to get the full potential of the car.

 

[ElectricNaz]

It's the same for wheel players, mate. Hit that upshift paddle twice back-to-back and sometimes you only get one upshift. So yea, just gotta be careful.

Huh, I didn't realise that! I've only recently started doing manual and haven't been bothered to set the wheel up since then. I just assumed double shifting would be easier with the paddles!!!

Especially after watching some of the replays of quick laps to learn, some of those double upshifts seem properly quick!!!

You learn something new every day....

 

[ElectricNaz]

Race 1 done.

Awful. Probably the most meh race in my life.

Qualified on hard tyres as that's what I was practicing on. My fault entirely as I forgot to switch them back. 15th of 16 at the start.

First lap at LaSource picked up a 2 second penalty despite not touching anyone? Cars ahead were ghosted and I genuinely made zero contact with anyone, even lost a position because I was trying to avoid the ghosts so went the long way around. No idea why I got a contact penalty, I own it when I do. I genuinely didn't do anything to anyone.

That ruined my race. Lost slipstream, now miles behind anyone else of note.

Then fighting over 12th some idiot span me round at the final chicane, he was about 3 tenths a lap quicker than me so I was letting him through as no point fighting him, and he decided to ram me onto the green fuzzy stuff on the exit and I span around. Cost me at least 10s sorting myself out

Finished 13/13, three retirees. Tbf for about 17 laps I was just casually driving round not really caring because I think exiting a race is worse for DR than finishing it?

Might give it another go later, not sure though.

 

[OJBrit]

I'll write a proper report later as I have to rush off. Went from P9 to P6 so happy to put my poor result here last time to bed.

 

[Interemptor]

Door #2, 72 Pts for the win

Qualified on P2. Bit surprissed to fair that good since it's a struggle for me to tame this car 😅

Started on softs between 2 other germans and the one in P3 was almost next to me after turn 1 because I took a wide line to avoid getting hit.

Going to Eau Rouge i was ahead by a meter maybe but he pushed me a bit wide and I had to slow down to avoid going off track.
Not the cleanest move but ok.

Top 3 now opened a gap to P4. About 4s after Lap2.

Got P2 back after the straight on Lap 3 because his rear came loose.

Pitted in Lap 9 for mediums and struggled really hard with them. Spun at turn 16 before the 'back straight' and lost about 13s.

Pitted in Lap 21 for hards and lost P2 because the driver was, probably, on softs. In the 5 laps before my last stop he shaved off 7s between us.

Nothing I could do in the end. 66Pts for P3. Could have been worse. 😅

 

[Rouqumoute]

Went from P12 to P6. Something strange happened... P2 and P3 get 1 min penalty ( 1 stop only I suppose) but with their gap above the minute they didn't lose their spot...

 

[ShiftingGears]

Someone with damage tried to let me through on the exit of the left hander at les combes by hitting the brakes on the racing line. Immediately picked up 2 seconds a lap damage.

Atrocious experience, heavy damage on GT is not a winning idea.

 

[ElectricNaz]

2nd attempt. More of the same with idiots being idiots. Finished 12th of 12 at least, strolled round casually for about 19 of those laps, a few extra points. Bad day for me. Need to work on my qualifying big time, for me it's either start top 4 and do well, start anywhere else and get taken out.

Another couple of stupid penalties from people braking way too early with no one in front of them. I'm done.

Next time I play I'm gonna start braking stupidly early to give people penalties since everyone else seems to do it

BTW when I'm saying way too early, I mean 100m or so way to early. Not even slightly which I would accept

 

[D_Dragline]

Door 12 of 14 in Oceania GT1 first slot.

This combo is not one that I am good at, so such a low number did not bode well.

Qualifying saw me first out of the pits and logged a banker on lap 1. Was about half a second faster on lap 2 until the car turned right instead of left in the final chicane. Q11.

Started on hards and the car in front of me false started. Unghosted exactly as I arrived and I gave him a small bump which caused the car behind to hit me. Thankfully no damage. Exited La Source in p12.

Was back to p11 when I pitted at the end of lap 1 for mediums. The rest of the race was just concentatring on consistency and keeping out of trouble. Pitted for softs on lap 13 from p6, Rejoined in p9. Kept it neat while others got loose with worn tyres and unnecessary battles.

On lap 20 I found myself in p5 with good gaps to p4 and p6. Despite the nerves I managed to nurse it home and secure p5 for 215 points. Unbelievably, this improved my season score.

The one tip I’d give is to park your ego and run TC. It saved me from disaster on at least 3 occasions.

Good luck all who are jumping in the Spa.

 

[JDM_GT7]

On the TC Issue - I always drive these red bulls with TC5. Makes life so much easier.

In my head - yes I'm down a couple of tenths on absolute peak lap time (probably), but the risk of 2nd gear farting the car into the wall or onto the grass repeatedly over 22 laps is significantly reduced!!!!

Not a single chance I'm doing 22 laps in manual tomorrow. Decision made already, I'm tied 1st in Hampshire, 17th UK, 107th in EMEA, I don't need anything special tomorrow. Just want to bring it home and pick up 4.25m credits. Then get drunk because I'll have 2 days to recover before work on Tuesday haha

I mean you should be exiting almost every corner in 4th.....

Race 1 done.

Awful. Probably the most meh race in my life.

Qualified on hard tyres as that's what I was practicing on. My fault entirely as I forgot to switch them back. 15th of 16 at the start.

First lap at LaSource picked up a 2 second penalty despite not touching anyone? Cars ahead were ghosted and I genuinely made zero contact with anyone, even lost a position because I was trying to avoid the ghosts so went the long way around. No idea why I got a contact penalty, I own it when I do. I genuinely didn't do anything to anyone.

That ruined my race. Lost slipstream, now miles behind anyone else of note.

Then fighting over 12th some idiot span me round at the final chicane, he was about 3 tenths a lap quicker than me so I was letting him through as no point fighting him, and he decided to ram me onto the green fuzzy stuff on the exit and I span around. Cost me at least 10s sorting myself out

Finished 13/13, three retirees. Tbf for about 17 laps I was just casually driving round not really caring because I think exiting a race is worse for DR than finishing it?

Might give it another go later, not sure though.

DR/SR suffer with a quit.

last place, is the same as parking the car in the pit and walking away though. Last is still way better especially for SR than quitting.

 

[Talon16]

The one tip I’d give is to park your ego and run TC. It saved me from disaster on at least 3 occasions.

100%. I learned this lesson a long time ago. When the game dropped, even TC1 was ridiculously restrictive. Now, it's not bad at all and get definitely save one's butt. I've run many-a-races with TC1 on and - as far as I can tell - it never even kicks in. But the couple times it does, it's a race saver. Especially after the physics change a while back where they made driving these cars feel like they're on ice.

Sure, running TC may cost you a tenth or so per lap, but it's the lesser of evils. I'd rather err on the side of caution, potentially costing ~.100"/lap than completely bin it ruining the whole race... especially a WS race that requires a lot of time and limited slots to even participate in.

I've seen some of the top split aliens running TC as well, like on the 787B and RX-Vision.

 

[Moose78]

The one tip I’d give is to park your ego and run TC. It saved me from disaster on at least 3 occasions.

This is excellent advice! I can only hope that all the opponents in my race tonight disregard it.

 

[MetalApe]

My head is spinning now, three of these races with an hour between each in VR is quite something.

Race 1: GT2 9am
Into La Source to start my first flying lap, disaster! Wheel pedal setup disconnects. It quickly reconnects, I manage to get the second flying lap done, but was rather distracted by the issue so a poor lap down in 13th.

No time to fiddle around and fix the problem, got to hope it holds up in the race. Starting on hards for 1 lap as so far back. On the grid try and change my panel to the close range radar, nothing happens. It must have disconnected again already! Quick panic reconnect and back in control just as the race starts. Chaos ahead, by the time I reach La Source I've briefly moved into 3rd. Only to be tapped into a quck spin by a chain reaction punt, but straight back into the action again at the back of the remaining pack.

Pit for mediums, then at start of lap 3 it disconnects on the way down to Eau Rouge, quick reconnect and I haven't lost a place. Carries on okay until a stop with 9 to go for softs and fuel. Running I think 4th when it disconnects again braking for the bus stop, big problem this time, straight on into the barrier, reconnect reverse out and back in the race, still finish 6th for a DR boost, but not enough points to improve on dropped scores, so need to run again.

No way I'm doing back to back races in VR, 22 laps in these fast cars is frazzling my brain. So an hour off and back again. Needed the time to fix the disconnect issue anyway, remove and replace the wheel, unplug and re-plug all the leads, reboot the PS5 and hope it's sorted.

Race 2: GT2 11am
Lower points available this time, I'd need 4th to improve my season total, by 1 point! Qualified 4th, logically should go for softs, but my gut instinct says mediums. This time I'm bumped back in the first lap chaos, briefly down to 10th, soon settled down in 6th once first lap pitters out the way and a couple of slower cars passed.

Pretty much an event free run from here, running on my own in 6th until the pit stops start, surprised to see first pitter on lap 6, others lap 7 and 8, at least this tips things in my advantage if they're ditching softs early.

I'm in after 12 laps, an event free run for 9 laps on softs, final stop for 1 lap on hards and I come out 4th. Not a bad result considering, but I'm not bagging a 1 point gain, there's room to better.

Race 3: GT2 1pm
Pull off a great qualifying lap to take pole by 0.005s, didn't count for much, punted wide at turn 1, more bashing around trying to rejoin so well back in the pack now.

Just need to keep plugging away on softs and hope things go my way later, pass some slower cars to settle down in 6th again. I was hoping for 9 laps, but they're looking worn after 8 so pit a lap early. Only to realise a downside of this strategy is it's too early to re-fuel to the end, I'll need to waste time sticking in another lap or so in my final stop.

Take on Mediums to avoid dropping back into slower traffic, find my self in a battle with a bit of an aggressive defender. I hate wasting time fighting for position, when I do get past he seems to find some extra speed and comes back past, we swap places again before settling in behind him until he pits with 3 to go.

I need to pit with 2 go as fuel won't last another lap. Take on hards and a little fuel and pleasently surprised to come out in 3rd with a clear track ahead, but another car not too far back on the radar.

A worrying final two laps, I just hung on by less than a second at the line. A nice 9 point boost to my total, puts me in a potential 3rd overall in the UK for GT2, depending on oponents scores today.