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

[Wannablackbee]

I am right and truly awful in this race at Interlagos. I've never been great on this circuit, but after the SuperFormula race there a couple seasons ago and the Gr.3 race there last season (where I drove the Audi), I felt like I could be somewhat competitive there. Driving the Dodge, though, I just cannot get the car to go.

I tried two lobby races for practice last night just to get a feel for how bad it would be, and it was bad -- even worse than I expected. Qualified near the back in both -- 2 seconds off pole. In both races, I just hung around the back battling it out for last place. It was horrible.

Just to rub salt in the wound, there was an A+ driver in the Viper in the lobby pulling of top-5 results. Clearly, the car can go faster. The problem is me.

Thankfully, I'm not going to be around to run the race on Saturday, but I still want to figure out what I'm doing wrong here because I feel like I shouldn't be this bad.

Don't worry. You are not alone. I am not fast at Interlago. I used the GR3 viper during Last Nation exhibition at Interlagos. I was slow and making mistakes in the bends but the Porsches and McLaren's could not catch me in the straight. They had a hard time getting in my slips. But there have been so many changes in the BOP since February so it is hard to know how it will perform. But You and I won't discover it since you don't race on Saturday and I use the AMG right now.

What worked well for me is I changed the way I attack the 3 first corners and I saved a lot of time there. It doesn't matter if you are getting the impression of loosing time in the first corner while you coast a bit to put yourself straight for the second corner while upshifting a gear. When you get it right, it feels like the 2nd and 3rd corner blends together. It is hard to explain. I hope it can help.

 

[bduddy]

And they should only be able to race once. Maybe that way they will learn to behave and be less agressive.

They used to have the Top 16/20 Superstars race, with bonus points and conveniently at the end of the season, to address several of these issues. Don't know why it went away...

 

[OJBrit]

The colors are based on one of the Gr3 cars. Honda is black while the car is white, black, and red. AMG is the green of the stripe on the HTP grey '16 car. Porsche is red while that car is white, red, and black, etc. Jaguar is green although I suspect if you chose the purple car, the suit would still be green (hence why I said one of the cars). I assume it is based on the car that was in GT Sport since AMG and Jaguar only had one colorway then. The suits have been that way also since GT Sport.

Lambo says you are wrong.

 

[tmtk]

The Ferrari seems so planted around Interlagos compared to Nordschleife, it's so pleasing to drive.
Probably because it's Gr.4 for us GT2 masses.
It's just short 10 lap stint, but I'm sure that with a bit more work I could drop to 39s.
I just love this circuit!

 

[ZEE]

My first round at the Nurburging 24h race was pretty ok but atroicious first time round. I think i can recover better result on ROund 2 as the course is better, the Green hell ate up my corvette and and i was not getting good pace for some reason.



I will try my best to get a good flow this tiem round as im in GT2 league and want to progress higher. Looking forward to tackling Interlagos with the gr3 cars.

 

[Moose78]

I will try my best to get a good flow this tiem round as im in GT2 league and want to progress higher. Looking forward to tackling Interlagos with the gr3 cars.

FYI, in GT2, round 2 at Interlagos is in Gr.4 cars, not Gr.3.

Good luck in your races, everyone!

 

[FireflyX1]

I haven't raced for months because of work, what's the general pecking order these days with the balance patches?

Are Supras, Ford GT & 911 still clear cut number 1 options?

I know there'll be a few that excel at different circuits but is there a general drivetrain that's superior?

 

[ZEE]

FYI, in GT2, round 2 at Interlagos is in Gr.4 cars, not Gr.3.

Good luck in your races, everyone!

Yes your right meant to say Gr.4 cars. Whoopsy hehe. Good luck all!

 

[FireflyX1]

Yes your right meant to say Gr.4 cars. Whoopsy hehe. Good luck all!

It says gr3 for me, has it been confirmed gr4 by PD??

 

[Seth_Logan]

The obvious answer is to assign points so that 1st in 2nd split is lower than last in top split and so on.

That would be a bad move. The "excercise" would then become: gain as much DR before a race to get into top split and always get good results. A better solution imho would be to take DR out of the equasion by having every driver do pre race qualifying times of a lap/few laps and sort splits accordingly. Then it's ok to follow your suggestion, but be aware that 1st place in first split would gain thousands of points with a driver field of 1600+ A+ and A drivers. Personally I think a small overlap is ok. Keeps nr 16 in split 1 still wanting to do better so as to not fall behind nr. 1 in split 2.

 

[Talon16]

It says gr3 for me, has it been confirmed gr4 by PD??

GT1 is Gr3. GT2/3 is Gr4.

 

[goudaj]

Just did the first Asia/Oceania GT2 slot, pretty straight forward sprint race. Started P3, finished P3. The Gr.4 NSX is quite nice to drive. I had the added challenge of a loose/worn out desk clamp on my T248, by lap 10 it was sliding along my desk every time I made a turn. I have a wheel stand coming (long overdue) so hopefully it'll arrive before the next round. May have to sit out the GR Cup tomorrow though.

 

[SPL170db]

Glad I'm not the only one that seems to be struggling a bit @ Interlagos. I'm in the Supra and it's definitely not feeling anywhere near as planted as it was last round @ the Ring. Tempted to just skip this round, but we'll see how I'm feeling about it tomorrow.

 

[TheWeapon874]

I'm pretty sure that it was an issue in Nations for one region last time out. I think it was Oceania, where there's basically one spot for two countries and one of them ran only the first half of rounds and almost all the top drivers from that nation sat out the back half.

Although I think that it's an issue peculiar to Asia/Oceania due to the lower number of top-rated drivers from a smaller number of nations massively skewing the points for the "top split" races depending on their attendance.

Yep, it was us. People with high Dr were getting messaged by the the top ranked driver (I think) asking them not to race in the final round so the points were reduced….

I haven't raced for months because of work, what's the general pecking order these days with the balance patches?

Are Supras, Ford GT & 911 still clear cut number 1 options?

I know there'll be a few that excel at different circuits but is there a general drivetrain that's superior?

Pretty much. Nsx has been high on leaderboards. Genesis X still quick. GTR. Personally I’ve gone with Lexus for something different and am finding it really competitive

 

[Globato44]

Not a really eventful race for me. Door 1, Q1 in a good but not great lap.

I knew Q2 from previous round, where he was way faster than me. I missed my braking point for turn 4 in the second lap and he passed me. I managed to keep his pace, but without chances of trying a pass. We both were faster than everyone else and made a big gap to P3.

I wasn't able to really apply pressure, so for the last laps I just played it safe to secure P2.

 

[ElectricNaz]

9am EMEA. Decent slot, 154 points up for grabs. Me in one of my two key races in the Vantage V8 which I earmarked for it's straight line speed. I was the only Aston on the grid....lets get going. Door number 7.

Qualifying starts - only time for one quick lap? Better nail it. I'm first out of the pits, about 2s ahead of the rest of them - meaning I didn't need to worry about any dive bombers as long as I could keep it clean on the pit lap and quick lap. Came around in a 1.40.086 - 6 tenths off my best but hopefully it's okay. 2nd to last finisher comes round JUST slower than me in a 1.40.104! It's pole for the lone UK driver in the Aston Martin!

Race begins after a panic because we were held stationary for maybe 10 seconds before we all got going. Someone down the grid left and then we all got going. Lap 1 finishes, got the French 2nd place driver about 0.3 seconds behind, with a pretty sizeable gap to 3rd and below already.

This race was MEGA. Clearly the NSX is quicker in the Infield, but I have the power advantage. A couple of laps in a row, the NSX can get just about alongside on the main straight, but once they pull out of the slipstream I can keep just enough ahead to pick my line and drive defensively through the Senna "S". This carries on for.... Well. All 10 laps! Every lap is rinse and repeat, I pull away a bit down the first two straights, and they catch right up by the top of the hill. My hands are hurting, I'm shaking.

This is the scene into the S at the start of the final lap, the crowd are going wild....

Oh no! I run a tad wide at the Bico de Pato, putting a wheel on the grass.... This would be awful but it would be equally deserved if the NSX could overtake and take advantage.

As we head into the final corner...

NSX takes the outside.... His nose is just ahead! But both of us drive cleanly, I leave enough room for them to make a clean exit. As we exit, my power advantage gives me just what I need to edge back ahead on the inside and..... Victory for the Aston Martin!!!

Giving me my first ever world series win! Absolutely buzzing. Clean race bonus as well as it was just beautiful driving from both the Englishman and the talented French driver.

Seems like 3rd and 4th also finished neck and neck - although on the replay it seems like they weren't as clean coming down the final straight!

I was 0.018s ahead after qualy, and 0.18s ahead after 10 laps. I would love to have kept driving that race. Anyway.... 154 points, now up to 284 for the series. Really enjoyed that and I will celebrate my first ever WS win in style tonight!

 

[OJBrit]

A case of what ifs in today's races.

9am slot
Surprised myself with a 5th place on the grid.
Immediately jumped the car ahead due to both needing to shift as soon as I launched and the NA mustang pulling right away.
The two ahead immediately set about battling and on lap 2 the inevitable happened. Into Descido do Lago they collided sending the Porsche sideways and leaving the Lexus with a 4 second penalty. Up into P2 I go, P1 had already checked out. I pulled away a bit as they fought behind but eventually they began to catch. An AMG tried their luck first and I defended well throughout sector 2 and did so well as to rebuff them back into the clutches of P4 so they could fight. A lap later and it was the other drivers turn having got past the AMG. Their Trophy was able to counter the Mustang in Ferradura where I was having my biggest issues. With no mass having been dropped from the Stang it was still quite heavy and I nicknamed it Jabba. Extra slowing and still it understeers through here. Lap 9 and the Megane is better through Pinheirinho and taps my rear quarter and I start to go sideways. They then follow through with a second hit and off to the barrier I go.

I'm about 80% certain it was a mistake, but of course they do not wait and keep P2, which of course means they are not that sorry. I slide again coming through the hairpin and end up P10 in the end. Not feeling great I wanted to go again.

10am slot
Got another P5 on the grid. Again I pull better than P4 but go into T1 side by side this time. I come out ahead and they drop off me. I get past the next car into P3 and then I am closing in on the front 2. A gap starts to form behind. Then I loose concentration thinking about perhaps getting the podium I deserved from the last race. Braking into Descido do Lago I clip the grass and the car slides towards the corner. I can't quite miss the barrier and spin around. I loose a few places and again I'm feeling annoyed but at least it's at myself this time. The car again decides to slide through the same hairpin as before although I do not know if I had help from a Porsche behind. I can't hold it and we both go off. They can get going again but I decide to play doughnuts in the grass. DFL but quickly grab P14. I make my way back to P11 before the end. Still not a satisfactory result.

11am slot
Only P7 on the grid this time. However the race itself was quite good with close battling throughout. I pass a Ferrari on lap 8 and of course with the slip on lap 9 they are on me. However they decided to just send it at Bico do Pato. Of course they skirt wide and shove me off at the same time. This allows a Porsche back through. Annoyed again I get them on the straight and close on the Ferrari. However I ran out of time and finish P7. I increase my points at least but still I get shoved out of a better position.

Plus points:
The Mustang seems competitive at my level, twice getting myself to the front of the grid and in touching distance of battling for a win.
It's fairly stable too.

Onto the next one.

 

[Seth_Logan]

After a two year hiatus from the game I joined manufacturers today with a Manu that's new to me but had great potential in my tests.

That test was between the Lambo, Nismo and NSX. I tested all rounds from 2 to 6 and weighed some of the tracks higher than others in my final decision. Ultimately it came down to Lambo and NSX pretty fast as I couldn't do anything at any decent pace in the Nismo.
Besides that I'm rather beginning to enjoy the MR cars, were I used to be afraid of them.

At least - for me - PD has come a long way since 2022 when the game was simply unbearable. But I digress. Altough it was clear that the Lambo's were fast as hell they were also pretty nasty to drive. Even the Gr4 car with its 4WD had its scary moments. Those moments were almost absent in the NSX and with it I was able to do my best times at Suzuka and Fuji. So in the end the NSX has won my faith and I joined them.

Enter Interlagos.

Boy was I nervous... It showed too in my qualifying. I love Interlagos as a track, I'm just not good at it. So being able to do (at times) a high 41 in qualifying during tt was a surprise. Too bad I couldn't replicate that in the race so started P9.

Race itself was decent, clean and people were mostly respectful. two guys left the race and I was able to pass 3 drivers netting a P6.
Could go again, may still do but this time around I my thinking is: as long as I'm leaving the race in a better mood than I started, had a clean one and placed myself somewhere in the neighborhood where I think I aught to be, than I'm calling it a day.

So this might be it... but who knows... the days is still young and we have ten slots to choose from

Good luck and have fun to all those still having to drive!

Cheers

Seth.

 

[Fezzik]

@OJBrit I was in one of your races (in disguise). Got shoved wide on lap 1 so never got close enough to say hello.

Wasn’t sure about doing this season. A horrid run of dailies made me delete the game for a week but I decided to give it one last chance.

Down in Euro GT3 now. Waited a minute to get clear air for my one-shot and put the Lexus P2 (1:41:439) behind a fellow RC F.

On their bumber through lap 1. At the first bend I went wide to avoid a dive-bombing P3 - a bit of contact made me think I could get away with some shortcutting but alas the game disagreed. 2 sec penalty dropped me to 5th.

Managed to close back up to the leaders. The other Lexus scarpered up the road whilst 4 of us spent the last 8 laps wheel-to-wheel. Clean hard fair racing, restores my faith a little. A Ferrari made an error on the very last bend and gifted me a podium (along with a rare fastest lap).

A good race even without strategy. The Lexus has plenty of grunt but still nimble, I like it.

 

[jimihemmy]

Lambo says you are wrong.

Maybe.... after seeing a @Globato44 video this thread all I can say is they are either the exception to the rule or PD used a different color for Lambo. The @ElectricNaz video in this thread shows the colors of the Aston Martin using the GT Sport car color also. Also the Corvette pics of @ZEE uses the Corvette Gr3 car colors.

 

[tmtk]

Three times a charm this time!

EMEA, GT2, mid B/S

First two slots were meh, with me making mistakes and qualifying 7th in both - got caught in the mid-pack chaos and subsequent shenanigans. Once I got punted and pushed off the track, the other time I made a mistake and spun on my own accord leaving me in the back. Finished 6th and 11th respectively.

For the third slot I hoped to redeem myself. It was 92 points lobby and I got door 4.
Waited in the pits to the last possible moment and was one of the last to start a timed lap. It wasn't the best, but 1:40.3 was enough for 2nd. Good place to try to escape the traffic madness.
It was a decent start, despite very conservative braking for turn 1 I was clear of the guys behind, only the pole sitter, the South African Genesis, was ahead.

We made a break from the rest as three Porsches behind fought harshly for the 3rd spot allowing me to make the gap bigger.
First few laps the Genesis was quick and was a little over a second in front making the race fastest lap in the process, but then they slowed down a bit and I found a good race pace of mid to high 1:40s. I got closer and closer, especially gaining on the approach and braking to turn 8 (my strong point in this combo).
So, I'm sitting close behind the Genesis but I don't see a place to overtake without making unwanted contact on corner entry, gap to 3rd is over 4 seconds. For many laps the story is the same; I get very close in the Infield and Genesis defends that on fast parts.
But on lap 9 the pressure boiled over for the South African as he cut just a little the exit of Senna esses and received 0.5 second penalty. That was all I needed, sat behind him comfortably and overtook him on the outside of bend 13th going into final lap.

Very good last lap of 1:40.5 allowed me to calmly finish for winner's trophy.

92 points for the win tasted very good and are the best prize for racing at this fabulous track!

BTW, it was my 100th race in sport mode and 15th win at that:

 

[Moose78]

I've spent a fair bit of time yesterday and this morning trying to get better at Interlagos with the Gr.3 Viper, but don't have much to show for it. I did manage to get my best lap in FP down to 1:33.7, which is something, I guess. I've done a bunch more lobby races and still finished dead last or 2nd last in all of them.

Regardless, now that I've spent all this time practicing, I really want to give this race at try. I'm going to see if I can make it for one of the later slots. I'm not expecting much. If I can finish better than last, less than 26 seconds off the lead, I'll consider it a win.

 

[D_Dragline]

That would be a bad move. The "excercise" would then become: gain as much DR before a race to get into top split and always get good results. A better solution imho would be to take DR out of the equasion by having every driver do pre race qualifying times of a lap/few laps and sort splits accordingly. Then it's ok to follow your suggestion, but be aware that 1st place in first split would gain thousands of points with a driver field of 1600+ A+ and A drivers. Personally I think a small overlap is ok. Keeps nr 16 in split 1 still wanting to do better so as to not fall behind nr. 1 in split 2.

I don’t understand the logic here. Are you saying this would be bad because only the best racers would be in top split?

Fast time trialing is not the same skill as fast racing.

There seems to be this weird assumption that anyone can grind to 100k DR. The whole point of DR is that it reflects your level of racing. In that respect, I can see no reason why the 16th ranked driver should be forced to accept fewer points than the 17th (or even 21st) ranked driver.

 

[Seth_Logan]

I don’t understand the logic here. Are you saying this would be bad because only the best racers would be in top split?

Fast time trialing is not the same skill as fast racing.

There seems to be this weird assumption that anyone can grind to 100k DR. The whole point of DR is that it reflects your level of racing. In that respect, I can see no reason why the 16th ranked driver should be forced to accept fewer points than the 17th (or even 21st) ranked driver.

No, I'm not saying that the best would be in top split, quit the opposite: the drivers that grind DR to the max BEFORE the race would be in top split and then would not have to do nothing to prove themselves in the race to get better points than the next guy in lower splits. The work was already done before.

I'm sure grinding DR is difficult, but as long as you end up in the first half of the 16 your DR goes up so all it takes is time.

But in the end it doesn't concern me all that much. I'm just here for my average nice B-rated bubble and that suits me just fine

 

[SPOOLMAN]

First place Victory with the Renault Trophy '11



This car is NOT suited for this track. Its top speed is terrible and understeers if you're not trail braking effectively. This car is all about momentum.

Qualifying time of 1:39.404 so I was lucky enough to start at the front of the pack. It's an absolute must as everyone I've come across has been dirty as hell.

I lose time on the straights but make up for it by excellent grip mid corner.

 

[D_Dragline]

No, I'm not saying that the best would be in top split, quit the opposite: the drivers that grind DR to the max BEFORE the race would be in top split and then would not have to do nothing to prove themselves in the race to get better points than the next guy in lower splits. The work was already done before.

I'm sure grinding DR is difficult, but as long as you end up in the first half of the 16 your DR goes up so all it takes is time.

But in the end it doesn't concern me all that much. I'm just here for my average nice B-rated bubble and that suits me just fine

I can assure you that once you’re at the pointy end a top 8 finish in daily races does not necessarily improve your DR. You can’t easily grind DR higher than your talent allows.

I am nowhere near alien level and my DR often goes down with a p5 finish.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

My first race as an A+ and it couldn’t have gone much worse. Really peed off.

Qualy didn’t go too bad with a 7th although my lap was about 0.8 slower than my free practice of 32.5. Didn’t realise you only get 3 minutes!! One lap shoot out.

Lap 3 or 4 got front and rear damage in a concertina jam in midfield and that was the end of that. Dropped like a stone. DFL

 

[Zorz]

That's definitely a one-and-done for me. After fearing it would be a death sprint with super strong slipstream from the discussion here, it turned out it's set to Real for the race rather than Custom.

Even with that said, sprint races are not my thing. I prefer longer races with pit strategy and the like. Sprint races on Hards are even worse. One-shot qualifying? Urf. Interlagos is also one of my weaker tracks, so with all of that in mind I wasn't expecting much from this at all. Imagine my surprise when I stuck my Alfa on P3.

I went deep on turn 1 on lap 2 and dropped a couple of positions to a Mercedes and a Ferrari on the run down to turn 4. I just slotted back in line and carried on, trying not to let it bother me because P5 would still have been a great result considering how I really wasn't expecting to be this far forward at all.

The Porsche in P2 went up the back of the polesitter Genesis at Ferradura, giving the Genesis damage but coming away unscathed itself. Looking at the replay, I'm really not sure how things worked that way... That caused the Genesis to start falling back, eventually being swallowed up by the Ferrari, Mercedes and myself by the beginning of lap 5 sector 2 and eventually even further.

On lap 6, the Ferrari went too far onto the kerbs at Descida do Lago and couldn't get the car to turn, so the Mercedes and myself both swiped the position as he tried to recover. Back up to P3, and cue me being VERY surprised that I had both managed to hold on in this sprint and also not be the one making daft mistakes from the pressure.

I followed the Mercedes around for a while and I think the pressure started getting to him as he looked incredibly twitchy in places. He eventually got a very poor exit out of Junção on lap 10 which let me get in front going into turn 1, but he must have recomposed himself because he stayed close enough to hang around my rear right coming out of Descida do Lago so I couldn't really defend, then send it up the inside into Ferradura.

Ended up following him to the end for a shock P3, 213 points and a clean race bonus to boot. Absolutely over the moon with that as I had this pegged as a dead round!

​

 

[Interemptor]

Low B, 79Pts for first, Door 15

Qualified on P5 which surprised me a bit.

Race was not great though. Really tight race, had some decent laps, got to P3 and was very close to P2 but some mistakes let the spaniard behind me closed the gap and he forced his way to P3 with not so clean moves. After the race 3 more guys complained about his moves

Over the next couple of laps I cought 2 .5s penalties for track limit violation and dropped to P5.

Not the worst race but the last results at Interlagos were so good for me that I expected a bit more. Maybe a bit too much 🙈

Well off to the next round 😅

 

[RobertHammer]

GT2 B - went multiple times and it seems Corvette Gr.4 isn't good enough or its just me or being Interlagos , best result that i could do today was P9 - also that short qually didn't help at all as in the first race i didn't manage to do a lap

really hope next round i will have more luck