Gran Turismo World Series (Nations Cup Exhibition Season: Jan 22 - Feb 1)

[Eggstor]

I was rather slow in my C/S GT3 lobby as Catalunya is one of my worst tracks. Qualified 15th (on hard tires), and decided to go with a 1-stop strategy, grabbing mediums on lap 5. Because one person pitted twice (forgetting to switch to hards the first time) and a few others were slow, I managed to get up to 9th as I did all my passing (except for the designated unintentional wrecker, who quit early) while people were in the pits.

The winner (by 13 seconds) and 3rd place were the only ones to do a no-stop strategy. 2nd went to mediums on lap 6. Most of the other front-runners started on mediums.

 

[Moose78]

GT2 - Peugeot - First and second slot in the Americas. Strategy: no-stop on RH.

First race - Qualified Q3 - Picked up a position in the first few corners of the race, then was pushed off the track on the first lap at the first hairpin. Down to last place. Worked my way back up to P11 and was tracking the eventual winner until I forgot to downshift for the last corner before the finish, spinning around and loosing some positions again. Eventually finished P9. Thought I might be able to better, so I tried the next slot.

Second race - I took a somewhat unconventional approach to qualifying in this race, doing it on RH tires instead of RM. My hope was to avoid the same fate from the previous race by starting further back, but still ahead of any really slow drivers. It worked out okay. I ended up at Q8, which was better than I expected. In the race, I survived the first lap without any major incidents. Still lost a few positions early on to drivers on RMs. Then I spent most of the race stuck behind a slower driver. Eventually I did get by, but by then the leaders were more than 25s ahead. I picked up a few positions from some 1-stoppers and somebody who didn't read the tire requirements. Finished P8.

I'm kinda disappointed in how the races went. I feel I could have done better. I'm not going to try again, though. Got other things to do.

 

[GlockPants]

Pretty disappointing result for me. Almost not worth posting and certainly not worth watching my replay to make sure everything is correct.

Qualified mid field P8 or P10. Tire strat was a non-stop on Hard, but it seems some folks here in the Americas caught wind of this. I only passed a couple people in the pits.

I got caught up in some T1 messiness on the opening lap. But seems it all started behind me and caused me and the car ahead to be punted in a disadvantageous way. Down to P15. P16 was a streamer that got it real bad.

Made one mistake and spun off mid race exiting the S2 slow left turn.

Managed P10 and I'm not going to run again. I just have no pace on this circuit and I'm not certain I would get a better result. Oh well.

 

[PMK]

Missed the first slot in GT1 by 5 seconds today which meant i had to go for the second slot. AMG again.
Qualified in 7th which i was happy with. Planned for a 13H-10M-10M.

Race start went quite flawless, made up 2 places into 5th. There was some going back and forth from 8th and below due to slower drivers struggling with wheel to wheel racing which gave me and 6th a lot of room. Guys in front of me were on mediums so they slowly drifted away in the first stint. Dude behind me in a NSX was clearly also on hards as we went consistenly from 1 to 2 seconds of intervals. At lap 12 he passed me as i was struggling with worn hards. I stayed close to him though and i was in 3rd due to those on mediums pitting but i pitted on lap 13 to switch to mediums.

I also refueled and left the pits in 12th. I didn't think much about it but this was already a sign that quite a few that started on hards were going for a 1 stop. On lap 16 i was promoted into 10th due to the Honda from earlier and someone else pitting. That lap i also passed a Supra struggling on worn tires so that meant 9th place. On lap 18, three guys on hards pitted. Again, i was oblivious to the fact that these guys were going for a one stop. I was in 6th now. 2 laps later i'm in 4th due to others pitting again. I was right behind an Italian in a Porsche that started in the top 5 on mediums and cleanly overtook him. He then pitted and another top 5 medium starter also pitted which means i'm in 2nd on lap 23.

I was pretty confident that i was going to get a top 5 finish if i kept up this consistent pace. I pitted at the end of that lap and was suprised to see myself in 10th. I was sure a lot in front of me still had to pit but in reality, these guys were doing one stops on hards. So i leave in 10th with the Porsche from earlier behind me. He's also on mediums as he did a M-H-M. He overtakes me with a divebomb and not risking any damage, i dodge out of his way. I'm now in 11th. During the final stint, we both overtake two others and stay close to eachother. As we creep up on the one stoppers about 7 seconds ahead of us i slowly realise these guys aren't pitting anymore and i have to give it my all if i want to overtake them.

Unfortunately, from lap 27 untill the finish, i was stuck between two Italians in Porsches that were not happy with eachother, one of them being the guy from earlier. While they were fighting, i snuck in between them which gave me 8th position. Porsche behind me was pissed and rammed me at one point which meant rear aero damage, but also front aero damage as i was proppeled into the Porsche in front. That Porsche didn't want to give up his position and kept trying to force me off the track when i was close to overtaking. At this point the race was coming to an end and I realised i wasn't gonna catch up to the one stoppers anymore due to these guys. This made me pretty frustrated honestly, as this was the moment that 1: i realised the one stoppers had outplayed us and that 2: these Porsches ruined any chance for a top 5.

I finish in 8th with less than 0.100 on the guy in front.
I mean, it's better than my GV round were i finished in 10th. And kudo's to the one stoppers. Talked to them in the chat afterwards about it and they revealed their strategy. All pitted on lap 18 to refuel and get new hards, then finish the race. But once again, can't help but feel some frustration that these Porsches slowed me down by driving like idiots. I couldn't participate in the 3rd slot so that was my only race today. This Manu Cup was one hell of a drive though. Onto the last round of the Nations Cup!

 

[Stilva]

I wasn't looking forward to this race as I'm not a fan of this track. No matter the result it will be one and done for this round. I went for the no stop strategy as that seems to be the norm. I joined the Americas GT2 Noon slot.

My qualifying is terrible as I start P14. Lots of contact with everyone hav6 different brake points and corner lines. Not intentional of course. I was guilty of a few bumps so I can't complain about that happening to me. I do get to P8 briefly, but the pack I was in were hard on the brakes entering turn 10. I send one of them off track and get a 2 second penalty. Which I think is bogus as I had nowhere to go. I get revenge punted by the person I hit so yeah, I was over the race at this point. I almost lose the rear of the car on lap 15 and fall to P14. I then lose the rear of the car in the same spot on the last lap and limp to the finish and I get out of that lobby quicker than a hiccup. No idea how many points I got but it won't count towards my total so whatever.

Not a fun time today, but this was a throw away race and I probably shouldn't have ran it.

 

[Roggers]

Time slot for points... I normally race on a Saturday on the 11pm slot. This gives me chance to see a race or two and get a rough idea of how it will play out.
As for points 140ish is roughly what I'm playing for in most slots. The only thing I do find is the racing is better in the early slots. Towards the end of the day I find it gets a bit dirty.

Missed todays Manu round. I'm just not feeling GT7 online anymore. Daily races since RBR and Le Mans a few months back have not interested me but also picking Nissan has been a factor too. Just not really got along with the Nissan.
Suzuka - GTR 18 was ok
Dragon Trail - GTR I hate to drive. Used the Silvia and got a decent result
Nurburgring - GTR felt good here and I really enjoyed this race
Watkins - Silvia was ok, but couldnt race
Catalunya - I felt off pace and the GTR just felt horrible. Had the opportunity to race this morning but just decided against it.

Looking back I wish I picked Porsche for this season. The Cayman GT4 was what stopped. Should have taken the hit at Dragon Trail and use the Gr3 rounds to pick my points up.

Might be back for the next season of GTWS, but I'm having more enjoyment right now on other racing sims

 

[kowalski__1]

I should have came here before i raced today,was running 2nd and pitted, finished 12th -72 points.
Race 2 ,no pit, finished 3rd -82 points,done,dammit.

 

[IngRobNy]

No race for me, I was planning to do the last race, which I thought started 20:00, but since the daylight Saving Time is over, the last race was 19:00 🤦‍♂️ 😂, not sure if I would improve my 18 points from the last race anyway, Catalunya is a difficult track for me.

 

[guitargeek]

Had to go twice today. My DR climbed massively at Red Bull Ring in the Mazda so I’m now in much higher point lobbies.

First slot, same lobby as @Stilva above. Qualified P2, blow the first turn like a complete jackass and get back in the pack. Lots of bumping and dirty tires, and I spin again. Back to DFL. Catch up and spin again trying to pass 15th. Only thing that saved me was the number of 1-stoppers I passed end up 10th. Still my highest points just due to strength of the lobby but I can do better.

Slot 2, slightly weaker lobby but still 129 up for grabs. Qualify P3 and actually start right this time. Drop to 6th behind some obvious 1 stoppers on RMs. Tuck in behind a Ford GT wait. Everybody ahead of us pits and we end up 1-2 with 6 laps left, and a nice 6 second gap back to third… game on now! 6 laps of fighting (very clean, great racing), passed each other twice, I end up 2nd a few tenths back. The AMG just can’t hang with the Ford GT on the straights, I could get up to him in the infield but couldn’t pull out of the tow and make the move on any straight.

Overall great, 124 points, highest by 30 for the season, I’ll take it!

 

[Stilva]

Had to go twice today. My DR climbed massively at Red Bull Ring in the Mazda so I’m now in much higher point lobbies.

First slot, same lobby as @Stilva above. Qualified P2, blow the first turn like a complete jackass and get back in the pack. Lots of bumping and dirty tires, and I spin again. Back to DFL. Catch up and spin again trying to pass 15th. Only thing that saved me was the number of 1-stoppers I passed end up 10th. Still my highest points just due to strength of the lobby but I can do better.

Slot 2, slightly weaker lobby but still 129 up for grabs. Qualify P3 and actually start right this time. Drop to 6th behind some obvious 1 stoppers on RMs. Tuck in behind a Ford GT wait. Everybody ahead of us pits and we end up 1-2 with 6 laps left, and a nice 6 second gap back to third… game on now! 6 laps of fighting (very clean, great racing), passed each other twice, I end up 2nd a few tenths back. The AMG just can’t hang with the Ford GT on the straights, I could get up to him in the infield but couldn’t pull out of the tow and make the move on any straight.

Overall great, 124 points, highest by 30 for the season, I’ll take it!

Hello fellow member! I had no idea that I was in the lobby with someone who posts here. You probably saw me bottle it a few times out there.

 

[guitargeek]

@Stilva Yeah, for some reason chat wasn’t letting me tag people so I could t easily say hi. I think @afc5150 was in my second race but I couldn’t tag him either.

I think you and I both had pretty forgettable races in that one…

 

[Talon16]

One slot on the 2 account and I am happy to say my tenure with Dodge is over. I just don't get along with the Gr3 Viper very well so I knew this was going to be a struggle. But, that is kinda the point of the 2 account Manu pick as I pick one that is mid-low tier (at least to me) and give it my best.

Qualified P3 as my second lap I got held up while purple. T1 of L1 and I get hit as a Lexus missed its braking point. He left room on T2 but then bumped me going through the long T3 and pushed me off-line. I believe all of these were accidents and none were bad enough I would lose a place, but P1 and P2 were now pretty far up.

After about 75% of the first lap things started to settle down. I had an NSX on my butt while P2 in a Porsche was walking away and P1 in a Ferrari was just gone. He was putting in low-41s lap times. Then I see why... lap eight P1 pits and lap nine handing the lead to the Porsche, who then pit two laps later. Now I am in the lead but I am still weary of the Ferrari as he was really fast.

And rightfully so, on the last lap my LF fire was completely red and when we got to the infield he caught me. Typically I wouldn't even fight it but this was the last lap so I had to try. But, was no use... went right by. Based on my finishing times, I'd have won if I was in the NSX.

Not a great combo. I won't be able to do a GT1 slot even if I wanted to but wouldn't even if I could. In both races today, at about lap 11, I'd look up at the lap counter and think, "Really, there are still that many more laps left?!"

Already looking forward to the next set of Manus.

Not sure if I'll do the last Nations race as it seems like a total bore. Maybe PD have something up their sleeve, but... yea.

 

[bliprunner]

Jumped into the first EU GT1 race (A), wasn't expecting much as I only had a short practice and wasn't super confident on the hards.

Turned out I shouldn't have worried as a rare incident-free quali put me in P1! This made tyre choice easier as I wanted to use mediums to try and escape and run in free air, and avoid any costly early mistakes on the hards.

My amazing plan nearly went wrong straight away as the P2 Ferrari got up the inside before turn one, I put the squeeze on and luckily they had a moment on their cold hards and I slipped back past them into turn two.

Most were on hards and while I sneaked 15 seconds up the road they had a good battle behind, with a couple of medium runners getting involved.

The mediums went 13 laps before the switch to hards, come out into nice clean air and by the time I catch some hard runners they are switching to mediums.

Everything has fallen my way and although second place closes to within five seconds my first win of the season is secured!

Top 3 were all McLarens, think they were a good choice here on the tyres but I'll take whatever I can get

 

[Fezzik]

ka-ching

 

[afc5150]

@Stilva I think @afc5150 was in my second race but I couldn’t tag him either.

Yep that was me, at the back, going slowly.

Congrats on that 2nd place! Always cool to see a fellow GTP member out there doing well.

 

[guitargeek]

Yeah, great to race with fellow members for sure!

Yep that was me, at the back, going slowly.

Congrats on that 2nd place! Always cool to see a fellow GTP member out there doing well.

 

[Gorefast]

I should have came here before i raced today,was running 2nd and pitted, finished 12th -72 points.
Race 2 ,no pit, finished 3rd -82 points,done,dammit.

Thanks to all the wonderful people here I knew that I had to go non-stop with my Citroen. I raced at 18:00 and qualified third. The guys around me were obviously no GTP-members and went for a pit-stop. So I got into lead with 4 laps to go and the second one around 12 seconds away. The Citroen has a lot of grip and is quite gentle to the tyres (= it is rather slow). Anyway still 11 seconds in front I started in lap 15 - as an unknown error occured and I got kicked out of the race!!! So close!😩 It is a pity as I lost a win and a lot of points. My rating will probably go also down again to D/S. Grmpf! 😡

I hope you had more luck and thank you for your kindness and support. GTPlanet rules!🏁

 

[Mert160]

The Jaguar GR3 has tire wear so horrific that I had to run hards for both stints and it still burned through the left front by the last lap. I won't be running Jaguar again for the manufacturer series.

 

[Dep Fishtail]

Was really hoping for a higher paying lobby but dropped DR slightly doing some dailies and I paid the price.

Only 196 available in this GT1 one group and I was wearing door 6 so I knew I had to place high to not lose a crap load of DR never mind the points for first place would have been less than my season high.

Qualified right at my free practice time so finally had a decent qualifying with q6.

Started on RH and planned 18/15 all RH. The first laps saw 1 spinner but overall nose to tail for the first 5 while pulling away from the group slightly over the next several laps.

Pitting started around lap 10 and I kept advancing due to that all the way to p2. Me and another 911 stayed at it uncontested until I pitted on after lap 18 for more RH and a splash of fuel.
The other 911 went one more lap and came out just in front of me.

During the pits we had a Supra get by but his pace wasn’t on yet was so hard to get by due to his top speed.

The other 911 got by him to take p1 at about lap 22 but I was stuck until lap 25 which allowed him p1 to separate a bit although the worst part was the traffic was catching and I was sure some were on RM.

They eventually caught me and all cleanly passed whilst I dropped back to p5 and couldn’t quite put enough pressure on p4 to cause any malfunctions.

Great racing and really enjoyed the course in the end because it was not boring at all.
Only grabbing 164 points which won’t count is fine because the racing was awesome and I gained back my DR lost in dailies as well as pegging the SR back to full S 😁

 

[icycls]

second slot today, GT1. I'll keep it short. No pace; Q9 finished P11. It was a pretty respectful race among those around my pace. I did run 33 clean laps, no penalties, no incidents or contact, yet wasn't awarded the CRB, so I'll just go ahead and give myself one.

I went 9H/12M/12M and the winner did a one stop. I don't think there was a tire strategy that would have got me more than a position or two, if that. The leader was pulling away from me on hards while I was on meds. Did I mention I had no pace?! I was really, really slow.

This is my first GT1 league and I've enjoyed it. I've had a few decentish results in the low-A lobbies, but I haven't finished closer than about a minute to any leader (usually a pretty big gap in my races with the top two or three running off). I need to figure out how to push hard laps for over an hour; Working on it....

I'll try to keep my A rating going forward to stay in GT1, even if my rankings sure did look a lot better in GT2. But c'mon, I'm a very little (slow) fish in a really big (fast, so fast!) pond. That's okay with me.

 

[Spider-Racer]

VICTORY in the fifth and final round of the Manufacturers Exhibition 2023/2024 😊👌 P1 and 320 points!! The combo was Barcelona Gr3 with high tire wear, so my Mazda RX-Vision was in the right conditions to shine😁. I practiced quite a bit for this, as dailies the past couple of weeks have been a bit "meh" for my taste.

In slot 1, I fell into the top split, got hit, and my car was damaged..
But in slot 2, I managed to set the fourth fastest time in qualifying and gained positions in the race to secure the victory and match my previous points record.

I am so, so pleased with this season!
I achieved three scores above 300, something completely unprecedented for me. But that is a story for tomorrow, in another post about the season overall.

 

[JDMKING13]

Man that race was fun… Didn’t qualify that well ran into traffic took 8th in qualifying. So I started on hards… had a decent stint on hards was at 2nd place but I took the hards too long for the stint(21)laps. Should of did 19 for I had much tire life on my mediums at the ends of the race… That’s the down fall of VR though can’t see the delta.. once I put the RM on i climbed to 5th.. I caught 4th and 3rd last lap.. If I had one more lap I would have had an easy 3rd ughh… Still was a great race love that track! It was a fun season and you guys helped out big time thanks!!

 

[Mercia]

It's really mindboggling that people were still going for pits in GT2/3 even later in the day.

I was surprised they were still doing it at 11am. I had absolutely no issue with wear on hards for the full distance.

 

[tankuroded]

Frustrating race for myself (GT3 league) - I was in the R30 SS because of a self-imposed challenge I use Nissan cars for the Gr.3 and Gr.4 (as well as Gr.1 for Nations since it was R92CP fest) races all season long (ironically I didn't drive the RZ34 at Deep Forest) and I was in the middle all day. Everyone does remember to put hards (even those who had mediums, somehow) in the race so I can't really take advantage of tire penalties.

In other news, Inostroza is set to return at the World Finals:


And for funsies, here's the manufacturers top 12, as if the season is the live event qualifiers:

 

[Spider-Racer]

A Season to Remember !

This season was a dream come true for me.
I decided to challenge myself and switch from my beloved McLaren to a different car. I wanted to spice things up and improve my skills with a new machine. I was tempted by the Lexus, a heavy non-turbo FR that requires finesse on the throttle.

But when I saw that GT1 was all about Gr.3 races, I knew I had to pick the Mazda. It has been one of my favorite cars since GT Sport. It has the perfect balance of turn-in, rotation, sound and looks. It's a joy to drive, and it also has a secret weapon: tire wear. It's so gentle on the rubber that it gave me an edge in many races. And it's fast, too. Some aliens always managed to put it in the top 100 in almost every combo.
Driving such a fun and competitive car motivated me to practice more. And the dailies were not very appealing anyway.

So, how did I do? Well, here are some numbers:

• 320 points: I smashed my previous record for highest points ever, with 320 (in two rounds!)
• 317 points: I set a new record for min counting points in a season
• 314 points: I achieved the highest ever average points including all rounds I participated in. By a huge margin
• 299 points: I reached the highest min score ever in participating rounds
• 6.5: I improved my average starting position. Qualy has always been my weak spot. But with the Mazda and tracks I like this season, I did much better.
• Most races I was in splits worth between 320 and 350 points
• 69k to 72.5k: I increased my DR over the season
• 15th in Americas: I finished in my best ever position in the regional ranking (thanks to some aliens skipping the season, of course)
• MAZDA CHAMPION: I was the best Mazda driver in the season. No alien picked it, so the trophy is mine!

And this is the class of Exhibition 23/24, including alt runs, practices and actual races. Some of these were made specifically for me, others I borrowed from what friends did before, others I adapted from their creations. Friends like @Racerx_34 , @RacingGrandpa and @Michelin Man. Thank you!

 

[SupaflyIRL]

Went back in my race replay and found when I got shadow realmed. I’m in the Ferrari, the battle we were having was clean enough I thought some third guy came in and plowed me lmao.

Pretty funny how everyone deals with the mistake like a grownup. Guy boots me and immediately shows remorse and doesn’t pass. I rejoin ahead of someone else and then let them through so we all end up where we were supposed to be.

I’m actually shocked I got zero penalty time for my rejoin excursion and it’s funny how I stay in the car’s windshield the whole time.

 

[Slowdan]

That was a pretty good season over all. It was my first in GT2 and I finished it off better than I thought I would!

Not a great qualifying session at Barcelona in an all DR A lobby. Felt like I was doing ok during the lap, but the stopwatch said different at the end, so I started in 10th.

Got off to a good start, passing someone in an Alfa into turn 1 and avoiding the inevitable dive bomb because of it. 😆 First few laps were a bit scruffy up ahead. I picked up a few more places, thanks to drivers in the gravel, to get to 5th. One of the casualties caught me back up by lap 8 and I stayed on line and didn't fight, hoping to follow him and pick up some of his pace. Held on for a couple of laps, but he was just quicker and the gap kept growing.

Two ahead pitted around lap 11, bumping me up to 4th. One of them was slowly creeping into my mirrors and eventually caught and passed me on the final lap. I didn't get to fight too hard thanks to knackered tyres and also being pretty happy with the points from the highest scoring lobby I've ever been in anyway.

156pts added took my total to 360pts for the season. 152nd in Europe overall, 5th in the UK for Porsche and a very nice 4.27 million credits.

Now to finish the Nations cup, with an oval race. Oh well, I guess they can't all be as good as the Nordschleife in the rain! 😁

 

[MetalApe]

Disapointing final race to end the season, just had no pace, made 3 attempts. All of them following around at the tail of the field, nice consistent races, but still only good enough to pick up the scraps, 8th, 11th, 10th. I needed at least 5th to outscore my lower score, so not a disaster for the chmpionship, but disapointing to just not have the pace. Even going for the 6pm slot didn't net me a good result against the days left overs, so scrap that theory.🤔

Overall GT2 season results a lot better, 16th overall, top Subaru driver. It's was a bit of random choice of manufacturer, but I enjoyed both cars, the BRZ is a bit of a beast, and I like it!

 

[Dep Fishtail]

My first time picking Porsche as Manufacturer and only did so because it was only group 3’s.

Enjoyed the versatility of the 911 and always felt like the car was capable and the rest was on me which hadn’t been the case with my previous manufacturer picks.

My rain debut at Suzuka could have used a redo as I failed hard coming out of the pits on the wet track. I left my results stand as one and done for every race this season.
I’m happy with my overall performance by hitting good consistency in the rest of the races and always felt like while the competition was tough, I was able to challenge myself and gain some confidence to race at this level.

Nice credit grab too 💰😁💰

Definitely enjoyed the weekend race schedule over the week days we had previously.

 

[GTWolverine]

Probably my most frustrating and disappointing season ever. It wasn't the worst in terms of total points scored, but I'm extremely frustrated to have been so hopelessly slow relative to my peers at most of the tracks on the schedule. Suzuka was really the only track where I had any pace, and I managed to piss away a good result in all 3 attempts there, which doomed my season from the start. I somewhat salvaged it by getting lucky at DTS and coming away with a 2nd place finish there, but being stuck with a sub-200 score meant I was never going to have an amazing season.