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

[LeGeNd-1]

I like long races but wow PD has really gone hardcore this season. N24 10 laps is at least 90 minutes (not including pitstops). If it rains it can easily be a 2 hour race. That's not including quali which takes almost half an hour by itself. You're looking at around 2-2.5 hour time commitment just for this one race I bet lots of people will quit halfway, even at GT1.

Heavy damage is great. From experience, the first few races are going to be bad because of takeouts, but eventually the dirty drivers will get tired of it and we'll see an improvement in driving standards in the long run. This combined with the ultra long races will filter out all of the casual racers and leave only people who want to race seriously. I can't imagine it's good for participation numbers or matchmaking parity (especially in underpopulated regions like Oceania), but if you manage to get a good room, it will be worth it. Can't say the same for GT2/3 rooms though, as I imagine lots of GT1 drivers will sandbag just to avoid the long races and heavy damage.

Shame about no Gr.4 in GT1 though. We need more variety, not less. Also I don't think the adjustable damper settings will make much difference to the pecking order. Ride height/springs/ARB have a much bigger effect on handling. Without being able to change those, the damper adjustments are kinda wasted. Not worth spending hours testing to find the "perfect" setting.

Well, I've made an early decision to try and drive something new this manufacturers season. Surely there's no way this can go as badly as the car's reputation would imply...

View attachment 1286012

Gr.4 is decent. Not meta but above average. Good on tires and fuel too. Just remember to shift at 3/4 rev bar.
Gr.3 is just plain slow unfortunately and saddled with the typical MR lift off oversteer. Also need to be shifted at 3/4 rev bar.
Good luck and just enjoy it and take the challenge of learning a difficult car. If anything, it's consistently one of the least popular brands so you'll have a bigger chance placing highly in your manu rankings and get more $$$

 

[Talon16]

I reckon it's got to be some kind of attempt at 4D chess, for GT1 at least.

Step 1: Make the new season available.
Step 2: Turn on heavy damage.
Step 3: Don't balance the cars.
Step 4: Make it one of those rounds where the car settings are completely hidden so it's impossible for anyone to practice in race conditions.
Step 5: Wait 2 weeks.
Step 6: The race starts. Virtually everyone is in the F40. Lots of people are likely going to have some fun off the rolling start misjudging their braking points into turn 1 and then later at the hairpin, picking up lasting damage that they'll need to pit to remove.

The person who picked the completely off-meta car strolls through the carnage after starting at the back and being completely outgunned off the line, then laughs as everyone else pits... 🤔😆

Although considering the ridiculous disparity, chances are the F40s would still catch up and overtake by the end...

 

[Yard_Sale]

I too am bummed that there’s going to be no Gr.4 in GT1 this season. I was all set and ready to pick Porsche as my manu knowing full well the cayman sucks ass. Probably still going with Porsche, but I feel a lot of the variety of manufacturers we see in that series, is because guys are willing to make compromises in order to be in a decent car for races that play to their strengths. Hence why last season, you saw a fair amount of Ferrari’s for once.

 

[benjoi84]

Big decision time for me. I'm currently sitting at DR B 93%, and going well at Autopolis this week. So with some effort I could proably make it to A for these and enter the GT1 league. My big worry is the limited time slots and long race commitment might make it difficult to get a suitable time to enter some rounds.

I think the answer could be try and enter one for GT2, and the other for GT1, if I can make it to A.

I have the opposite quandry.

I want to fire up a secondary account in order to find a timezone which has races fitting my schedule better than my current one.

Here's the rub; I'll have to get my secondary up to A to justify it, otherwise I'll be better off just tanking my primary to B and use the expanded time slots instead (which would suit just fine).

Jesus

Edit: just caught up with the thread. Now with the differences between GT1 and the others, I REALLY have to get myself into that category on my new account to make it worth it.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

With GT1 league having heavy damage on, I’m just really going to focus on having fun above all else, especially since this is just an exhibition season as well. It's not worth the stress and frusturation. I am liking the look of longer races though.

That said, at the end of the previous season, I decided for the next one to take a break from Lexus and go with a different manufacturer. And to make things a bit more interesting, I used a randomizer wheel to pick for me. So, after giving it a spin, I will be going with…

 

[Yard_Sale]

I have the opposite quandry.

I want to fire up a secondary account in order to find a timezone which has races fitting my schedule better than my current one.

Here's the rub; I'll have to get my secondary up to A to justify it, otherwise I'll be better off just tanking my primary to B and use the expanded time slots instead (which would suit just fine).

Jesus

Edit: just caught up with the thread. Now with the differences between GT1 and the others, I REALLY have to get myself into that category on my new account to make it worth it.

With the longer races last season, and how much of a hit they were… I figured they were here to stay, so I hustled and got an account in each region up to “A”, just for this very reason. Because of my work schedule, I’ll never be able to do a full season on one account. But I should be able to participate in a full season, between my 3 accounts

 

[Hasnain282]

Schedule Tables

Nations GT1

Nations GT2

Manufacturers GT1

Manufacturers GT2

Any mistakes please say

Not only do GT2 and 3 have to use Gr.4 for a couple races, it looks like they're also fuel saving races as well

 

[bduddy]

253.8 km has to be the longest Sport Mode race in history, right?

 

[Fezzik]

Oh what the hell, I’ll give it a go even with the horrid Gr4 fuel savers. In GT3 this time so should be more competitive.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Oh what the hell, I’ll give it a go even with the horrid Gr4 fuel savers. In GT3 this time so should be more competitive.

View attachment 1286177

It's not that bad fuel saving. On Grand Valley you have mandatory RH but all tyres available and tyre wear x1 so you have to pit anyway.

 

[Fezzik]

It's not that bad fuel saving. On Grand Valley you have mandatory RH but all tyres available and tyre wear x1 so you have to pit anyway.

You don’t have to pit. 14 laps fuel-saving on hards should easily be doable (but still very boring). You could also 1 stop and run the softs for most of the race, hopefully that way would be quicker but it’s usually faster to not pit.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

You don’t have to pit. 14 laps fuel-saving on hards should easily be doable (but still very boring). You could also 1 stop and run the softs for most of the race, hopefully that way would be quicker but it’s usually faster to not pit.

I get 10-12 laps out of fuel saving. I think 12 laps on soft and 3 on hards is faster but I haven't tested it.
(And that's exactly what you said )

 

[KAlex122]

Just saw that my PS+ subscription that i don't intend to renew ends on 20. of November. Perfect. :-)

 

[MetalApe]

My rise to DR:A was timed perfectly, I entered GT2 for the Manufacturers Cup first thing this morning. Then managed a 4th place at Autopolis to get me upto A for the first time ever. So I've now entered into GT1 for the Nations Cup.

 

[Pfei]

I updated the original post with the new info and @Hasnain282 's tables. So if anyone needs to do a quick check of race info just visit the first post of this thread.

 

[Dep Fishtail]

Next week’s race at Suzuka is going to be quite the test. Currently B race has been a challenge to stay in top form for 5 laps with zero spins or bobbles 😂 over multiple races. Need to get more seat time on this one before it’s gone.

X7 laps plus heavy damage will be interesting. Definitely plenty of time to figure out if you’re faster by recovering from mistakes or just by consistency of laps.
I try my best for consistency and I am certain that I will be passed by some guys multiple times while they excel at the go fast lose it and try again method.

looking forward to the challenge 🍻

 

[Yard_Sale]

Next week’s race at Suzuka is going to be quite the test. Currently B race has been a challenge to stay in top form for 5 laps with zero spins or bobbles 😂 over multiple races. Need to get more seat time on this one before it’s gone.

X7 laps plus heavy damage will be interesting. Definitely plenty of time to figure out if you’re faster by recovering from mistakes or just by consistency of laps.
I try my best for consistency and I am certain that I will be passed by some guys multiple times while they excel at the go fast lose it and try again method.

looking forward to the challenge 🍻

Is there any tangible pace to be gained from adjusting the dampers?

 

[Dep Fishtail]

Is there any tangible pace to be gained from adjusting the dampers?

I played with it mid week and couldn’t find any differences but I was also in a funk midweek due to running tc2 instead of tc1.

The difference between tc1-2 on car turn-in, handling and speed on the course was a major eye opener.
Now I sorted that out I plan to go back a try setting’s that Normsk found helpful to see if I feel the difference. He posted settings yesterday.

I’m hoping that it just gives even slightly better handling which will pay big over 35 laps.

 

[Fezzik]

For the first time in a long while I hopped into a daily, as the current race B is Suzuka Gr3 like the opening Manu round. Wasn’t sure how competitive the NSX is as I’m not up-to-date with the BoP, but it went all right.

Based on the amount of crashers and spinners, just staying on the tarmac should work well with a 3x longer race.

 

[Yard_Sale]

With heavy damage on, I'm literally thinking about tanking my qually lap, just to stay clear of the first lap melee. IIRC, you have to pit to repair damage when set to "heavy"..... right?

Regardless, starting 10 seconds behind the leaders is peanuts compared to what an early pitstop will cost you

 

[Pfei]

IIRC, you have to pit to repair damage when set to "heavy"..... right?

Correct.

Staying out of trouble helps a lot. The only top split race I was ever in, I started last and finished 10th thanks to others having to pit for damage.

 

[Talon16]

With heavy damage on, I'm literally thinking about tanking my qually lap, just to stay clear of the first lap melee. IIRC, you have to pit to repair damage when set to "heavy"..... right?

Regardless, starting 10 seconds behind the leaders is peanuts compared to what an early pitstop will cost you

Maybe. You're going to get caught up in the mid-pack melee though. I've done some Suzukas from the back this week and the first set of esses is am absolute shrimp show.

 

[Yard_Sale]

New entry into the GT-Beer League category

Heavy damage has left me stranded!!

 

[RacingGrandpa]

I am in GT2 this time I think. All the slots are daytime though and I work and have a large family.
It's unlikely I will get many races done when the last race of the day is at dinner time.

 

[Andy Lapi]

Please could somebody who has alreday chosen its manufacturer could show the best time in Suzuka
Thanks

 

[dkstz]

Please could somebody who has alreday chosen its manufacturer could show the best time in Suzuka
Thanks

I think you can check the current leaderboard for daily race B. It will be pretty accurate I guess.

 

[benjoi84]

Is there any tangible pace to be gained from adjusting the dampers?

I was playing with it all week and then I lost my mind because I couldn't figure out which way was "firm" and which way was "loose".

The game repeatedly seeming to reset the settings back to an arbitrary previous attempt didn't help.

In the end, I may as well have got the cat to jump on the controller and set up my springs.

 

[Dep Fishtail]

I was warmed up by doing some laps raced two races, and then tried a tuned vs stock 4 lap session.

Stock I was .05 slower on my fastest lap, .3 faster average and .65 faster on my slowest lap when compared to running the tune that @Normsk_US posted in dailies.
My optimal was nearly the same on both and my best qt so far is 2:01.525 so I don’t think the tune is for me at this point.

Maybe I need a tuna helper. 🤔

Tune

Stock

 

[Andy Lapi]

I think you can check the current leaderboard for daily race B. It will be pretty accurate I guess.

Yes thank you I missed that 🥸

 

[meekrab]

Is there any tangible pace to be gained from adjusting the dampers?

I did a bunch of laps just now and I can't tell a difference between full stiff and full soft. 3 seconds off the aliens either way.

If I had to guess, given that GT's suspension model is thoroughly overdamped in every car, full soft is probably the fastest way to go.