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

[tmtk]

Had just enough time to try one slot around noon in EMEA. Ferrari.
Door 15 I guess (that was my sticker). Waited till around 4:10 to exit and that gave me two fast laps with a spare.
Qualified 1st with about 0.2 advantage over second (high 1:39).

Start went pretty uneventful and I was building a comfortable lead of about 5 seconds when I got disconnected from the server (due to data loss - was the reason given).

I'll try again in the afternoon/evening.

 

[Met Entso]

Are you good at tire saving? Also using the Porsche and i doubt mine will make it to the end without any chance.

Edit: Are you in GT2? Because then it makes more sense.

I just reached GT1 and one thing I'm discovering is that the more I practice and the faster I am, the more I save tyres, maybe because faster is smother and smooth is good for tyres.

Also applying some basic techniques like coasting, longer gears, less brake. There are many YouTube videos about this.

Maybe I was overly optimistic about that 5 % let's say 2% lol

 

[Yard_Sale]

Alright, second exhibition season is wrapped up and in the books!!







Oceanic, middle of the road GT1 slot:


Woke up at 1:45am to hit the first oceanic slot before heading off to work. Despite being able to consistently hot lap in very low 1:31’s in FP, I completely barny’d qualifying and landed 5th with a 1:32 flat. Not the end of the world, but I was hoping to be near pole in order for my mandatory 1-stop strategy to have a fighting chance at the money. 1st lap went fine until this happened….

-and with that, I was quickly ushered to the back of the pack and had a lot of work to do. Spent the next 7 laps catching back up to the pack, and as soon as I did, I ducked off for tires at end of lap 8. Predictably exited pit row in last place by a long shot.


Tried my best to hit my lines and braking points so that by the time peoples tires started falling off, I could hopefully get myself up to 7th to at least not lose any DR.

- lap 13 and I’m finally back up to the pack

- planning my takeover at the next big braking zone.

- everything was going swimmingly until I blew a head gasket on lap 14. All the sudden that bumper sticker on the left takes on a whole new meaning of irony. White Trash Rust Bucket Race Team baby!!!

“Best job I ever had…”








Fun season all around, despite my mediocre results. Finished 8th on the day and out of the points. Would have liked this race to be a bit longer, but oh well. Hopefully PD got the data they need to make the next official season better 😎

 

[Hdbd04]

Rd.4 was a somewhat interesting round, but for all the wrong reasons.

Slot 1 - Qualified P7 with a time of 1:32.009. Not great but not terrible either for the group. The race started and everything was going well until I had to oversteer at the last corner and crash, leaving me at least. Then it got weird. The BMW which started at P2 pitted at Lap 3 for some reason and I managed to catch up to that car. Only for the car to leave me behind (Because it's a BRZ thing). It was uneventful until Lap 12 where that BMW had a collision with another BMW (which shortly left), which caused that other BMW to hit an oncoming Lexus. So that was a few positions in already. Laps 13-14 was just a small battle with another BMW which was fun. Finished P11.



Slot 2 - Qualified P5 with a time of 1:31.885. Which was actually great to be honest! In addition, I've managed to finish the first lap without crashing! Then came Lap 2 where 2nd and 3rd crashed at the first corner, prompting me to P2. I've managed to hold it until Lap 13 when my tires and I no longer cooperate at one of the corners. I was lucky to slow down for that. That got me down to P4, and to be honest that Merc that was chasing me would have gotten me even if I didn't do that mistake. Finished P4 with 213 points.



In the end it was an engaging season to try out the BRZ, even when it was obviously showing its disadvantages. Maybe I'll stick to it when the next one arrives soon.

(Hooray for being the 4th in the Asian Subaru leaderboard too lol)

Spoiler: Slot 1 Pics

Spoiler: Slot 2 Pics

 

[MCL1974]

Learning to drive on Dragon Trail Gardens was fun, just wish I had a bit more time to get used to it.

Had done a nightshift so raced in the afternoon. Before the race I did about ten minutes of practice and in the final lap I improved my time a bit and got (as usual) close to @Roggers his best time. Close...but no sigar, as they say!

GT2/B lobby, When qualifying started I was fourth out of the pits and when I started my first lap I had a gap to the Porsche in front of me. But he was sloppy and I was already right behind him after 2 corners. Fortunately I get past him clean but first lap was not very competitive so focussed on the second attempt. The two cars in front of me were quick in the first lap and both got a very low 1.39. My second lap got me a 1.39.2 and a bit which meant third place. Best I could do, A McLaren was on pole and an Italian in a Toyota was second.

At the start the three of us got away clean and we soon had a gap to the car in fourth. It was very close between us for two laps then the two cars in front of me got away a bit with the Italian taking first place. But after about 5 laps I got in a nice rhytm and soon I was behind them again. I was chasing the McLaren in second and when he made a small mistake I was able to pass him and get that second place. From that moment on we fought for second place with the Toyota about 2 seconds in front of us.

Final lap: the McLaren was right in my tail, so focussed on taking the chicane as well as I could, in which I succeeded. But the McLaren nailed said chicane and was right beside me going to the U-turn. I decided to brake early, hoping for a switchback and because the McLaren braked a bit too late it went as planned for me and I was in front again. The last corners were a bit difficult to navigate through clean but I went over the finishline in second, about 2 tenths before the McLaren en about 1.7 seconds behind the winning Toyota.

It was a fun race, felt like I could compete here with 2 drivers faster then me and it was all clean. Nice one!

 

[rennwerks]

I wish they would just stick to real-life circuits for these types of events.

 

[SPL170db]

So what's the play here for GT1? Is the pit loss too much vs. the time you drop for fried tires or does it make sense to change them around 7-8 laps in?


EDIT: watching Kie's stream and he said it's not worth it to pit

 

[Met Entso]

So what's the play here for GT1? Is the pit loss too much vs. the time you drop for fried tires or does it make sense to change them around 7-8 laps in?


EDIT: watching Kie's stream and he said it's not worth it to pit

Yes I definitely will go for no-pit strategy.

 

[SPL170db]

Yeah....I think the only reason a pit would make sense is if you get damage in those first few laps that forces your hand (and car) into the pits.

 

[Zorz]

That's likely a one-and-done for me today. I might go again but it's probably not worth it. I think I've figured out why I liked it when Polyphony changed the calendar to Saturdays only. Getting ready for the first Wednesday EMEA slot when you've got a normal day job and live in the UK is hard - it's 5pm. Even trying to pull out all the stops by working from home so I can skip the commute, there's just not enough time to warm up properly and get into the right frame of mind. I know there's the second and third slots, but I don't like losing an attempt, nor how driving standards sometimes tend to drop over the day as people get desperate.

I went into today's race quite flustered after having not one but two people at work decide the moment I was about to log off was the perfect moment to ask for my help. By the time I was done, my normally already quite frenzied preparation for a Wednesday slot turned into an all-out mad dash just to be half warmed up. It showed quite badly in the race with some really silly mistakes.

I qualified P11 and quickly fell to the back after trying to capitalise on a poor exit from the Porsche in front on the back straight hairpin. Trying to go 2-wide into the following chicane meant I was on the kerb, and I got some big oversteer that I had to try to catch. I regained some positions as time went on due to others making big mistakes and managed to retake a position by overtaking a Subaru, but my whole strategy went to hell halfway through.

I'd done a couple of practice runs and found my front right tyre would die at some point during the final lap, so I was planning on a no-stop. However the tyre degradation in the actual race was so, so much higher than I was expecting. I ended up diving into the pits at the end of lap 10 because I'd be spending a lot of time struggling even harder with a dead front right tyre attempting the no-stop as planned. I certainly will not miss the Hyundai's very poor tyre life after this season.

I ended up P13 out of 15 as someone had been lapped (I will have to check the replay to find out why), and a Ferrari had binned it on the final lap.

I'm glad this Manufacturers season is over. N24 went well with the P6 finish, Watkins Glen was absolutely horrendous (P15), Bathurst went very well (P4) and Dragon Trail Gardens looks to be another stinker (P13), assuming I don't give it another go later. Can't also help but notice the bad rounds were on Wednesdays... 🤔

 

[Yard_Sale]

So what's the play here for GT1? Is the pit loss too much vs. the time you drop for fried tires or does it make sense to change them around 7-8 laps in?


EDIT: watching Kie's stream and he said it's not worth it to pit

To my knowledge the only car that needs to pit, is Ferrari for tires. P2 in Kie’s stream was a Ferrari, and he pitted for tires at lap 7 and finished 10th or 11th. Doesn’t make me feel as bad for finishing 8th today, although I’m pretty sure I could have got back to my original Q5 position judging by the finish times and strength of lobby

 

[tmtk]

Second attempt for Dragon Trail race with the Ferrari. GT3

Garage 4.
Late exit for qualifying, good enough for two fast laps.
Unfortunately I encountered traffic of slower drivers on both laps and my best laptime was poor (40.1) - good enough for 4th place on the grid.

Start went good, people ahead started making mistakes as early as the sausage chicane, advanced to 3rd on subsequent straight. Totally missed braking point for the hairpin by the guy in 2nd made me gain one position once again.

So I started chasing the leader in the AMG. It was strange to observe how he was loosing time on chicanes, esses and hairpins. By the end of lap 3 I was close behind wondering how to get past him as he was all over the place on corner entry. Braking in strangest places, making me bump him twice.

With 2 second gap behind me I decided to wait for a clear mistake to overtake him. Well, on the end of lap 5 he all of a sudden went to pitlane, so there it was - the mistake I needed. He was the only one to pit in the whole race, not surprisingly.

With clean air in front I switched to time trial mode. Hundreds of laps made on this track in the Radical Time Trial last year paid off and without further incidents I arrived 1st on the finish line. My fastest lap was nearly a second quicker than the qualifying.

 

[Homestead]

GT2 Low B DR S SR here
Lots of practice this week with the m4.
First race went poor. Quali 2nd and spun out on on first lap and quit out.
Second race quali on pole. Driver door 12. Focused on creating a gap and clean consistent laps.
Everything went well and Finished first.

 

[icycls]

That's likely a one-and-done for me today. I might go again but it's probably not worth it. I think I've figured out why I liked it when Polyphony changed the calendar to Saturdays only. Getting ready for the first Wednesday EMEA slot when you've got a normal day job and live in the UK is hard - it's 5pm. Even trying to pull out all the stops by working from home so I can skip the commute, there's just not enough time to warm up properly and get into the right frame of mind. I know there's the second and third slots, but I don't like losing an attempt, nor how driving standards sometimes tend to drop over the day as people get desperate.

I went into today's race quite flustered after having not one but two people at work decide the moment I was about to log off was the perfect moment to ask for my help. By the time I was done, my normally already quite frenzied preparation for a Wednesday slot turned into an all-out mad dash just to be half warmed up. It showed quite badly in the race with some really silly mistakes.

I'm in a similar position for Wednesday races. I can work from home most days.... except Wednesdays! Because, of course. If they keep this schedule, I'm sure there will be some wednesdays that I skip altogether. I really prefer the weekender slots.

 

[GlockPants]

Going to be a one and don't for me today.

GT2 - B/S Lobby and I'm sporting the #1 door.

The Porsche Cayman doesn't feel particularly fast around this track. FP laps were, ok but not great. I decided I'd take a more conservative line to avoid any mishaps with the sausages.

Qualifying was ok. I stayed in the pits for about 45 seconds before getting out to clean air. I had enough time for two hot laps. Q4, that's fine.

The race was remarkably clean for me. My strategy of just keeping a tidy line worked for me, I think.

On the first lap, the NSX ahead in P3 goes wide exiting the esses and spins off. An easy position gained (Another gtplanet-er in a McLaren further back had done the same thing).

End of Lap 5, a Jag behind me would finally catch up with a good clean pass on the inside. I knew they were gaining time on me so I made sure to leave enough room.

I would keep up tight on them, though. Just hoping for an opportunity to get back around. And that would happen on Lap 9, they get a slow exit out of the chicane and I'd somehow make a pass down the straight and hold the inside line though the hairpin.

I wasn't sure I'd seen the last of the Jag. A Supra was keeping good pressure on them. Fortunately for me, I seemed to be better on my tires than the two behind and I'd slowly gap them to the end.

The podium was good for 95 points and a bump to my DR. If 3 rounds count, it'll replace my lowest score from Round 1.

 

[Famine]

Got blocked in qualy, ended up a second off my actual race pace in 14th, was running 6th and got kerb glitched but only lost 10s in a spin with no damage acquired, finished 12th but probably should have been 6th.

Well, 7th, but one of the top six fully binned it on the last lap.

 

[bliprunner]

Well I thought it might be dull and depend heavily on qualifying, and I was wrong...

Another quali ruined by having to overtake someone going slowly and then losing it at the chicane. Lucky to start P9 and I'm not expecting much. However, as we enter the infield section the third place Alfa lost it and the resulting pile up took out half the cars in front...

Start lap two in fifth with two cars close in front. After the annoying chicane I pass the BMW and get the Porsche around the outside of the hairpin. Total respect, he left space and when he could have easily nudged me wide.

I managed to get my head down for a few laps and eventually got the gap up to 4 seconds, with the same gap to the front pair that looked like game over and a lucky third place was mine. But with a few laps left the Merc in 2nd dropped it at the chicane over the first set of curbs and handed me second!

Now my only worry was keeping my tyres ok, luckily I had done some testing and with +4 front brake and TC2 I kept some tyres to the end and finished the season with my best result of 216 points. Bring on the Nations!

 

[Met Entso]

Holy Moly P3, my third podium in this Manufacturer! P2,P2,P3 "I'm not even joking!!!" 🏁 🏎️ 🏎️ 🏎️

 

[mastretta_mx]

Not bad at all considering that I didn't practiced and enrolled into the race 2 minutes before it started🤭🤭 P2 in qualy, P3 in race after I got distracted by my cell phone, went off track and returned in P7 lol

 

[Golf Rrrr]

Well I thought it might be dull and depend heavily on qualifying, and I was wrong...

Another quali ruined by having to overtake someone going slowly and then losing it at the chicane. Lucky to start P9 and I'm not expecting much. However, as we enter the infield section the third place Alfa lost it and the resulting pile up took out half the cars in front...

View attachment 1318198

Start lap two in fifth with two cars close in front. After the annoying chicane I pass the BMW and get the Porsche around the outside of the hairpin. Total respect, he left space and when he could have easily nudged me wide.

View attachment 1318199

I managed to get my head down for a few laps and eventually got the gap up to 4 seconds, with the same gap to the front pair that looked like game over and a lucky third place was mine. But with a few laps left the Merc in 2nd dropped it at the chicane over the first set of curbs and handed me second!

Now my only worry was keeping my tyres ok, luckily I had done some testing and with +4 front brake and TC2 I kept some tyres to the end and finished the season with my best result of 216 points. Bring on the Nations!

View attachment 1318200

Hi Blip,

I was the silver Porsche driver in the second picture. Thanks for the warm words but. I am struggling with the controller in the chicane a lot and need to find my race pace back. I don’t think I would have won a fight against you. My biggest concern was to save tires until the End and not to race so much. P4 in the end.

 

[MetalApe]

Race 1:
Qualified 8th, then Deja Vu at the multi-apex right hander on lap. One driver in our race was SR:B, the rest of us SR:S. You can see from his driving into the hairpin on lap 1 why he's SR:B. He attempts a late move poking his nose inside P2, doesn't work, loses him a bit of time. Then he must be day dreaming as he manages to stick two wheels off the track in the middle of the esses, yes the middle, not the exit! Loses a chunk of time with P4 & P5 all over him now.

To be fair the final off was due to them both sticking it down the inside of him at once in the multi-apex turn knocking him out of control. Back on the track he comes, right in front of me giving me a 5s contact penalty. Down to 15th once that's served, back upto 11th by the end.

Race 2:
Every cloud has a silver lining, or two. Find myself in higher points lobby, plus by the time I'd finished some practice laps I felt a fair bit faster than for Race 1. Then messed up the first qualifying lap, dropped back into a gap for lap 2. Was slightly compromised at the end after a driver a couple of cars ahead messed his lap up and slowed the car ahead me. So qualified 13th.

I don't think I really had the pace to move up too much in the pack. Various incidents ahead allowed me up to 8th by the finish. The minimium I needed to score enough points to improve my total, by 4 whole points! Given there's a potentially a much bigger gain if I can get the same sort of lobby and a better finish I gamble on running again.

Race 3:
Okay qualifying puts me 10th. This was the kind of race I like, drivers ahead pointlessly blocking and squabbling and giving me chances to get past and within 3 or 4 laps I'm up to 5th. Soon had someone closing in, clearly faster than me so didn't defend into the hairpin. They were soon attacking P4 who was another of those idiot desperate blockers, almost gave me a chance to pass him as he recovered from a failed blocking move.

Once they'd sorted their battle for P4 out they both pulled away from me, so it was an easy cruise to 6th. The rest of pack were miles behind as they bished & bashed & squabelled over the lower placings. A nice points lobby giving me 142 compared my previous best two of 121 & 124.

In reality I really earnt these points on Monday morning at Daytona, where are good run of races boosted my ranking from 95% B to 15% A, getting me into this nice high points lobby.

 

[Famine]

UuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUURGH!

Actually managed a decent qualy, despite one car coming out of the pits as I started my flying lap and just blocking the first turn, to start second. Basically got passed immediately by a Porsche, spent six laps holding a Ferrari back - somehow I was losing 0.3s at the hairpin to everyone every lap - until they both pitted, Porsche got me again on the final lap but was two seconds ahead at the line anyway so meh.

Winner was in Slovenia by the time we all finished.

Still, doubled my points for the season and annoyingly dropped back to high-B because of the crap earlier race with the qualy blocking and kerb glitch. Bumholes.

Edit: Oh polite applause for bronzes for 35th in GT1/EMEA for Mazda and eight trillionth in GT1/EMEA generally. 2.4m credits...

 

[bliprunner]

Hi Blip,

I was the silver Porsche driver in the second picture. Thanks for the warm words but. I am struggling with the controller in the chicane a lot and need to find my race pace back. I don’t think I would have won a fight against you. My biggest concern was to save tires until the End and not to race so much. P4 in the end.

Good race, for a few laps you were close and I was worried I was burning up my tyres. The chicane is a killer and I’m lucky it ruined my quali and not my race!

 

[GT5Apex]

Well.... that was a disappointing way to end the manufacturer season.

In my first race, i qualified P6 and finished last of the runners (P14). After a good qualifying performance, my race fell apart pretty quickly. On lap 1, someone in a GTR bumped into the back of me which gave me rear aero damage and then a couple of laps later i caught the wrong part of the kerb going into T2 which spun me out into the gravel. After that, i decided to pit and get rid of the damage. Then a couple laps later, i caught up to a slow back marker in a GTR, and we went side by side through the last corner and they squeezed me a little bit off the track which caused me to spin out into the barrier. So yeah... that race was a disaster.

In my 2nd race, i qualified P16 and finished P10. In qualifying for this race, i messed up my first hot lap and pulled over to the side to let the car behind me past, and even though i gave them plenty of space, they somehow still hit me a little bit which gave me damage. I thought i had enough time to back out to the pits and complete a hot lap but it turns out i was wrong, so i qualified dead for last without setting a time.
The race itself was a complete non event.😴

The is my lowest points scoring season at A+. It's a shame that it happened with Ferrari since i like driving the 458 GT3 but i just couldn't extract the best pace out of it.

Also, PD need to fix the heavy damage in this game. I found it a bit unfair that the GTR who bumped me from behind received no damage what so ever. They have to make it consistent. If someone hits me hard enough from behind to give me damage, then they should have damage as well.

 

[Yard_Sale]

Well.... that was a disappointing way to end the manufacturer season.

In my first race, i qualified P6 and finished last of the runners (P14). After a good qualifying performance, my race fell apart pretty quickly. On lap 1, someone in a GTR bumped into the back of me which gave me rear aero damage and then a couple of laps later i caught the wrong part of the kerb going into T2 which spun me out into the gravel. After that, i decided to pit and get rid of the damage. Then a couple laps later, i caught up to a slow back marker in a GTR, and we went side by side through the last corner and they squeezed me a little bit off the track which caused me to spin out into the barrier. So yeah... that race was a disaster.

In my 2nd race, i qualified P16 and finished P10. In qualifying for this race, i messed up my first hot lap and pulled over to the side to let the car behind me past, and even though i gave them plenty of space, they somehow still hit me a little bit which gave me damage. I thought i had enough time to back out to the pits and complete a hot lap but it turns out i was wrong, so i qualified dead for last without setting a time.
The race itself was a complete non event.😴

The is my lowest points scoring season at A+. It's a shame that it happened with Ferrari since i like driving the 458 GT3 but i just couldn't extract the best pace out of it.

Also, PD need to fix the heavy damage in this game. I found it a bit unfair that the GTR who bumped me from behind received no damage what so ever. They have to make it consistent. If someone hits me hard enough from behind to give me damage, then they should have damage as well.

Were you able to make your tires last the entire race in the 458? If so, that’s impressive!

 

[JDMKING13]

Were you able to make your tires last the entire race in the 458? If so, that’s impressive!

I’ve been doing 14 lap stints with my friends online and I can make them last.. I did a 1:33.0 though on the last lap.

 

[GT5Apex]

Were you able to make your tires last the entire race in the 458? If so, that’s impressive!

Unfortunately not. I had 1% health in the right rear tyre as i exited the final corner at the end of lap 14.

 

[OJBrit]

Another free hit round thanks to the M4.
Qualy wasn't as good as Watkins and I had to make do with P11. I get overtaken out of the Chicane lap 1 but I stay with the group as the slip helps me keep up. Everyone is in a train and fighting so nobody is really going anywhere. On lap 4 there is an incident into the final 2 turns. The 4C in front locks the back wheels but holds the slide. They go wide and through a ghosted McLaren. I get the run and go for the gap under the 4C in the final turn. Despite the gap and the fact they ran wide they still clip me. My car is upset and spins into the barrier. Once I get myself out I am now DFL and 4 seconds back. The Greek ahead seems to be struggling with the track as they are slow and making mistakes. I catch them and they mess up the chicane and find the grass on the exit. A nice easy pass for me. However the pack are 5 seconds up the road and I am not really gaining due to the sluggish nature of the car.
Finally on lap 9 a Porsche has an issue and I get onto their rear. They are just faster so it would take a miracle to pass. It happens.
They seem to be struggling and are locking and sliding through some corners. I close in and get alongside towards the Istanbul section. As I am on the outside I start to back off but notice they also slow so I go for it. I hang it around the outside.

I somehow pull it off. Neither do I understeer and neither am I shoved wide. Now ahead I wonder if I can hang on given the pace advantage the Cayman has on me. They do close on the straights but whatever tyre issue they were having just keeps me out of reach. My front right tyre is on 25% but the handling seems o.k.
Going into the penultimate corner they are on my bumper but my spidey sense goes off and I delay my turn only to see the Porsche scream past without breaking. Given how clean they were with my overtake I'm surprised it happened so must have been a mistake.
Anyway it is P14 again and without the spin it may have been a top 10.

I was annoyed with the 4C as I had thought they had turned into me given their mistake. Looking at the replay that did happen but not to the extent I thought. In giving them space I took the kerb a little and it was this plus the knock that provided the spin. So a racing incident where they could have done a bit more for me.

Hopefully next time I can have something more competitive in both categories.

 

[JDMKING13]

Unfortunately not. I had 1% health in the right rear tyre as i exited the final corner at the end of lap 14.

Same for me lol but you didn’t pit right? So you made them last the whole race? Do you remember what times you were getting?

 

[GT5Apex]

Same for me lol but you didn’t pit right? So you made them last the whole race? Do you remember what times you were getting?

No i never pitted.

In regards to lap times during the opening ten laps i was doing mid 1:32's and then during the last 4 or 5 laps my pace dropped into the the low to mid 1:33's.