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

[appu]

You guys were right for saying that switching to RHs is the best strategy. And that the 5th lap is the best for pitting, for the tradeoff between being fast vs being safe.

After over a year, I was happily paired with PHG_Papa.

I pleasantly surprised myself by putting the car on 5th in the wet qualifying. Surprised because I'm still mid-B fast in GT3, as pointed out by my lap times being the same as other mid-B folks here, including in this very event. It was kinda obvious that my #2 door helped as traffic is a big issue here. I had free air to myself during qualifying.

Lap 1 turn 1 was surprisingly clean, just small contacts among others. Just before lap 2, PHG_Papa was unfortunately denied the space and he crashed into the pit wall divider.

I got my front bumper damaged attempting to overtake the same Porsche on the same straight. I need to remember that I am now in GT1 where damage is permanent, I can't just let myself bump the person in front hard if they heavily block me from overtaking on the straight.

That damage made me pit on 5th lap as I was losing 4km/h on the main straight. Most folks pit on 4th lap, and that gave me overcut advantage over a few folks as they likely struggled to stay within the dry line on the 5th lap.

I chilled pretty much throughout the race. The same Porsche would frequently catch up to my rear bumper in the last turn only to lose 1.5 seconds by T2 exit (Alfa Romeo's top speed advantage, braking advantage, and -5BB). The Porsche finally overtook me when I got stuck behind a non-stopper guy and I had to patiently wait for the main straight.

Unfortunately for the Porsche, I overtook him back on the very same straight.

An easy peasy 2nd thanks to misfortune of PHG_Papa (maybe more folks as well) and the perfect pit strategy. The winner was half a minute away. I'm now at 40% DR-A, with my GT3 performance still still stuck at mid-B. I've been witnessing more and more that a lot of DR-A folks are not really faster than DR-B folks. They are just consistent and know how to avoid an incident. I've been observing that since I was DR-B.

 

[Moose78]

I ran the first GT1 slot in the Americas (6PM EDT), driving the Citroen GT from door #16 in a low A/S lobby with 174 points up for grabs. I felt confident going in that I could have a good race here if I could just avoid any carnage. Reading all of horror stories from other GTPers, though, I was worried that wasn't going to happen.

Qualifying went fairly well. My first hot lap was the the fastest on the board for that lap. That isn't the one that matters, though. The second lap was feeling fast until I ran into traffic towards the end of the esses and had to ease off. I ended up with at 2:05.886, which was still good enough for a Q2 start. Nice!

The race got off to a good start. I had the inside line going into turn 1. By some miracle, I not only survived, but came out in front. I ran the esses as clean and smoothly as I could and built up a bit of a gap to the cars behind. I got through the hairpin fine, but that's more than I can say for the cars immediately behind me.

By the time I got to the end of the lap, I had a 2.9s second lead. It grew over the next few laps.

I pitted on lap 4 for slicks, came out in P3, with a 5 seconds buffer ahead and behind. The two cars ahead of me pitted on the next lap, handing the lead back to me.

From there, I just focused on running my fastest laps. The lead grew even more.

Another miracle: I posted the race's fastest lap on lap 9, with a time of 2:01.227. Not bad for a tired old moose, if I do say so myself.

Ended up winning by a 21.3s margin, for 174 points.


I couldn't be happier with that result. It is a big boost to my point total and DR.

Wins are rare for me -- this marks my 14th in sports mode -- so this feels really special. Off to have a drink to celebrate...

 

[Kermit_2142]

I ran the first GT1 slot in the Americas (6PM EDT), driving the Citroen GT from door #16 in a low A/S lobby with 174 points up for grabs. I felt confident going in that I could have a good race here if I could just avoid any carnage. Reading all of horror stories from other GTPers, though, I was worried that wasn't going to happen.

Qualifying went fairly well. My first hot lap was the the fastest on the board for that lap. That isn't the one that matters, though. The second lap was feeling fast until I ran into traffic towards the end of the esses and had to ease off. I ended up with at 2:05.886, which was still good enough for a Q2 start. Nice!

View attachment 1374191

The race got off to a good start. I had the inside line going into turn 1. By some miracle, I not only survived, but came out in front. I ran the esses as clean and smoothly as I could and built up a bit of a gap to the cars behind. I got through the hairpin fine, but that's more than I can say for the cars immediately behind me.

View attachment 1374196

By the time I got to the end of the lap, I had a 2.9s second lead. It grew over the next few laps.

I pitted on lap 4 for slicks, came out in P3, with a 5 seconds buffer ahead and behind. The two cars ahead of me pitted on the next lap, handing the lead back to me.

From there, I just focused on running my fastest laps. The lead grew even more.

Another miracle: I posted the race's fastest lap on lap 9, with a time of 2:01.227. Not bad for a tired old moose, if I do say so myself.

Ended up winning by a 21.3s margin, for 174 points.
View attachment 1374199

I couldn't be happier with that result. It is a big boost to my point total and DR.

Wins are rare for me -- this marks my 14th in sports mode -- so this feels really special. Off to have a drink to celebrate...

I think I was in your race. Congratulations on the win.

I’ve been away from GT for a while but have been looking forward to some more GTWS and the next update, that being said I was very rusty tonight but I had a lot of fun.

Race 1 I ran a rough qually lap and didn’t get chance for a second. Qualified mid pack, endured the chaos, had some good racing and finished mid pack.

Race 2 waited and waited and waited, went for 1 flyer and qualified p2.
But then my eagerness got the better of me and I put it in the wall more times than I can remember and decided to quit in the end after picking up damage again following a second stop.

Poor results but a fun combo. Shame it wasn’t a longer race, and maybe a 2 stop, it might’ve helped calm things down a little.

 

[Marky264]

I really enjoyed this round. I practiced earlier in the week and these type of conditions suit me to a tee.

Managed to get my time down to 2:01:160 which i was really happy with in the Porsche 911 RSR. I'm happy I went back to Porsche this season as the balance just fits my style so much more these days.

DR:A & SR:S / GT1 - I only had time to enter one round today and that was the last slot of the day. As we were starting on IM's that reduced the need for a pit stop at all providing i could break free early into the race and control the pace up front.

Qualified P6 which i was satisfied enough with after encountering a block from someone at the end of my last hot lap which was a bummer. Felt super quick!

First lap went well we all managed turn one unscathed bumper to bumper until the last corner where it all went a bit wild... Car in P5 punted P4 out and I slid up the inside and nabbed P4 slight touch of contact but free with no damage or penalties. I could concentrate to push on for P3.

Had some excellent pace and caught P3 & P2 over the next few laps. Unfortunately P1 was around 5 seconds up the road and free of any drama's whilst I continued to catch i managed to secure two switchback moves one for P3 on the last corner and one for P2 on the first corner.

Once in P2 it was a nice comfortable cruise to the end and increasing pace every lap. Some people pitted for hards however the Top 3 stayed out on IM's for the entire race without much threat from the pitters.

Wish I could have done the other two slots but banked a nice healthy 148 Points and looking forward to the next two rounds in this lovely machine. 🏁

 

[A_Higher_Place]

Qualified with a 'meh' time and figured that's where I stack up in A+ anyways. These guys were seconds quicker than the GT2 B drivers - especially the Brazilians in P1 and P2.

First lap went well with a pass in the first two corners. First lap saw a literal train of cars until the main straight where some doofus decided that bump drafting what a smart thing to do. I lifted to avoid but they ended up swerving into my line and having a sudden loss of speed leading me to rear end them. For the next 3 laps I was with front damage and down about 10 mph on the main straight (ugh). Lost my position to the driver who finished fourth (woulda coulda shoulda been mine).

I pitted end of lap 4 and risked it for the undercut - which worked out! Ended up coming out of the pits in 7th and found myself in 6th by lap 8. A driver ahead was slow from possible damage and I made a final lap pass to take my first top five in A+! 217 points on the board - my largest haul yet!

@Moose78 well done on your race and result! I'll see you in lobbies again soon I'm sure.

@Dragonwhisky congrats on your 2nd place - well earned! I still think your pace is quick enough for GT1!

 

[Dragonwhisky]

@A_Higher_Place judging by those q-times up there I'd have to disagree. Thinkin' I'm right where I belong in the GTSport arena.

 

[fardoche]

Q7 to P6 in Americas GT2 slot 1, mixed A/S B/S lobby worth 154 points, door #12 in the trusty Supra

Not much to report, really. Decent qualy, decent race. P1 and P2 walked away from everyone by 10 seconds at the end, while P3 through 7 were basically a train of cars throughout waiting (hoping) someone ahead made a mistake which never happened. Pit at the end of 5 laps to switch from IM to RH. Beat a bunch of A/S guys for a nice DR boost and can almost touch DR-A

Happy enough with 122 points to call it a day, and go enjoy a drive in my real life brand new Toyota Corolla Hatch (non-GR model )

Nice car, reminds me the good old civic hatchback of the 90s, In a good way. Maybe my next car!

Practiced only one night this week. I was not super confident.
10 PM GT1 slot with NSX 500GT.
Q12.
Race starts, After turn one I was P15, I basically give them way.to avoid accident.

Decided to follow and study behavior of the pack ahead... I said to my self, they wont survive, they are too aggressive. I just waited for mistakes, gained a few positions.
Pitted for RH end of lap 5, some more drivers were loosing control on the slick tires after ward.

Ended up P5, very happy about it.

 

[bduddy]

A day to forget for sure. 2 promising races ended with smacks against the wall that lost me a bunch of spots. 3rd slot ended with a disconnect going into qualifying. Looking forward to those new physics for sure... Feels like we've been running up against the limits of these ones more often lately.

 

[newmedia_dev]

Licking my wounds this morning will take the positives that I managed to end up with a final 95 points for the round.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda etc I'm just glad it wasn't zero.

So going with a glass half full mindset this morning. What could have been....

 

[Seth_Logan]

GT2 low B - only one run

Qualified P6 , i could have done better time but ran into a small traffic eh

Race started good as i managed get into P5 before first corner but as i was in P4 for 3 laps i managed to hit the wall and not to mention some hit my rear multiple times ... so i dropped to P6 , after lap 6 went to the pits got lucky mananged to get into P4 since some drivers started to crash and hit walls and then on the last lap P3 got 1second penalty thus getting the podium in P3
View attachment 1373971View attachment 1373970
Pretty solid race while i got lucky in the end - have fun out there 👍

btw not looking forward to the Autopolis race xD

That Optimus Prime Bingo Racing Corvette livery looks smashing!

 

[Moose78]

I just ran 10 laps in Free Practice at Autopolis. Nothing but sunny weather. Looks like we are in for a straigh-ahead sprint.

 

[ElectricNaz]

I just ran 10 laps in Free Practice at Autopolis. Nothing but sunny weather. Looks like we are in for a straigh-ahead sprint.

Or if you're me at Autopolis, a 10 lap crawl! Very glad there won't be any rain 😂

 

[LogSwapper]

I just ran 10 laps in Free Practice at Autopolis. Nothing but sunny weather. Looks like we are in for a straigh-ahead sprint.

A race without strategy on a track you can’t overtake? Surely not. Pd would never do something like that..

 

[Talon16]

Did a couple races yesterday, but alts only. I had planned on doing a primary account race but something came up early afternoon and I didn't get home until ~22:00. Really bummed about that as I did a lot of practice and was relying on this race to be one of the two I was going to be able to do. Oh well, such is life.

Anyway, AO region. Two races. Both were a wreck fest. The Renault in teh rain is great, but it matters naught when getting rear-ended every other lap. Oh well. Nothing to report here...

---

US race in the Citroen. This one was good. We all [cars near me anyway] survived T1 and L1. Started on pole but was P3 by the end of T1.

Stayed there coming down the straight. The Supra and AMG fighting and went a little hot into T1 so I was able to pip up the inside.

From there it was trying to keep them behind; my lap two was a little better than the Supra but I couldn't drop him on the straights. I couldn't quite shake him and on lap three we ended up going side-by-side into T1, leaving each other space. Good racing. I had the inside and kept the lead.

He pit at the end of lap three (which I thought was brave) but it gave me some room behind. I'd pit at the end of lap five (as would the AMG now behind) and came out in front of the Supra watching that delta drop like crazy as we approach T1. It was either that lap or the next where something happened to the Supra where he dropped back from about a second to three seconds. Supra and AMG were fighting which opened up the gap to five/six seconds. GGs.

Citroen was a good drive here. It's a decent car. A diamond in the rough at this combo, IMO.

...and that's all she wrote for the day, unfortunately. The combo itself had huge potential. But, like any race it's subject to those racing around you; even more so on a wet track surrounded by walls. I never liked any of the Tokyo layouts but was happy to see this on the docket as it forced me to learn the track, and, I kinda like it now... if for no other reason that it was something different, rather than 10 laps around Suzuka for the billionth time. I actually enjoyed the track more in the wet as when you get the perfect rotation/slide through some of those turns it's very satisfying.

---

Speaking of 10 laps around a dry circuit, onto a dry Autopolis. Really disappointed with that. With it looking to be a dry race, with all slicks available and 2x wear, I think @Nakano219 was onto something that PD might be using us to test their new physics update, with presumably new tire wear models.

 

[Moose78]

I'm still getting up to speed at Autopolis, but I decided to do some tire tests anyway. For me -- and my apparently freakish ability to save tires -- it was easy to do a no-pit on all three available tire compounds.

There aren't any surprises here, except maybe just how erratic and slow my driving was when I tested RS tires, which was the first test I did. The RSs are faster than RMs, which are faster than RHs. The wear goes in the opposite direction, with RHs showing the least wear and RSs the most. Under the current physics model, going with RSs for the race is an obvious no-brainer.

My main reason for doing these tests now, though, is to have a baseline to compare against when the new physics model comes out in the update later this week.

Anyways, without further ado (details in this spreadsheet) here are the results.

Tire strategy	Opt time	Best time	Avg time	Avg dev	Total time
10RS (v1.48)	1:45.973	1:47.858	1:48.272	0:00.362	18:02.724
10RM (v1.48)	1:46.159	1:48.324	1:48.656	0:00.495	18:06.559
10RH (v1.48)	1:48.009	1:49.817	1:50.055	0:00.336	18:20.546

These were done in a Custom Race against one AI driver, driving the Citreon GT under race fuel and tire multipliers. Afternoon. S03 weather.

By the way, I don't really know what is going on with the Opt times. They are much lower than I'd expect. I'm guessing that they are thrown off because the race starts past the finish line and it is counting the first-lap sector 1 time as the best one.

I'll probably re-run the RS test once I get a little more practice and become more consistent.

 

[newmedia_dev]

I'm still getting up to speed at Autopolis, but I decided to do some tire tests anyway. For me -- and my apparently freakish ability to save tires -- it was easy to do a no-pit on all three available tire compounds.

There aren't any surprises here, except maybe just how erratic and slow my driving was when I tested RS tires, which was the first test I did. The RSs are faster than RMs, which are faster than RHs. The wear goes in the opposite direction, with RHs showing the least wear and RSs the most. Under the current physics model, going with RSs for the race is an obvious no-brainer.

My main reason for doing these tests now, though, is to have a baseline to compare against when the new physics model comes out in the update later this week.

Anyways, without further ado (details in this spreadsheet) here are the results.

Tire strategy	Opt time	Best time	Avg time	Avg dev	Total time
10RS (v1.48)	1:45.973	1:47.858	1:48.272	0:00.362	18:02.724
10RM (v1.48)	1:46.159	1:48.324	1:48.656	0:00.495	18:06.559
10RH (v1.48)	1:48.009	1:49.817	1:50.055	0:00.336	18:20.546

These were done in a Custom Race against one AI driver, driving the Citreon GT under race fuel and tire multipliers. Afternoon. S03 weather.

By the way, I don't really know what is going on with the Opt times. They are much lower than I'd expect. I'm guessing that they are thrown off because the race starts past the finish line and it is counting the first-lap sector 1 time as the best one.

I'll probably re-run the RS test once I get a little more practice and become more consistent.

With no mandatory pit based on your numbers a RS sprint is the race they have laid out.

With the technical nature of the track RM seem pointless even if the RS wear you'll just back them up on the last 2 laps.

I had slightly different numbers on infinity practice with no wear.

But I think you are quicker than me. But it's only 10 laps in high grip so really don't think there is a option other than RS

 

[A_Higher_Place]

@Moose78 i wonder how these tines will stack up compared to the new physics. Apparently the wear is higher with them.

 

[RobertHammer]

@Moose78 i wonder how these tines will stack up compared to the new physics. Apparently the wear is higher with them.

there is a small chance they might change the settings too

 

[newmedia_dev]

@Moose78 i wonder how these tines will stack up compared to the new physics. Apparently the wear is higher with them.

I'm not sure it's going to make much difference at my level. And if it does realistically I can't see PD being massively radical on these things.

Time will tell, but there is a lot of hype to physics changes with the only evidence of anything is the tour drivers having to adjust their Strats to adapt.

But in reality that was still only one lap earlier or one lap or so later.

I think personally it's mostly hype to promote the new tire sticker partner.

Are the cars going to drive somehow really different....I don't think so. In a 10 lap race I imagine the changes will be placebo or negligible.

That said they could increase the wear rate behind the scenes but that feels unlikely especially if you've tried the GT Toyota cup and the car choices and handling they have.

The Yaris is the most under powered handful I've ever driven.

 

[Talon16]

I had similar results as Moose. Just a 10 lap RS sprint race.

Of course it could all be out the window come Thursday. THat being said, if the RS tires wear out quicker then everyone will just use RM. All I am thinking is, the pit delta will be too large to make up for running a softer compound, IMO. RM for 10 laps likely better than RS/RS.

Yadda yadda yadda, still a 10 lap sprint.

 

[newmedia_dev]

I had similar results as Moose. Just a 10 lap RS sprint race.

Of course it could all be out the window come Thursday. THat being said, if the RS tires wear out quicker then everyone will just use RM. All I am thinking is, the pit delta will be too large to make up for running a softer compound, IMO. RM for 10 laps likely better than RS/RS.

Yadda yadda yadda, still a 10 lap sprint.

And the first 2 laps are traffic laps at Autopolis. So not massively hard on the softs.

Its a sprint race and so will Nurbs be it looks like.

 

[Moose78]

@Moose78 i wonder how these tines will stack up compared to the new physics. Apparently the wear is higher with them.

I'm interested to see how the lap times are affected, too. I don't really know what to expect. My mostly uninformed guess is that under the new physics model, the total race time with either RS or RM will be about the same. A no-stop with both, but with RSs you start fast and slow down with every lap. RMs will be more even, slower at the start with more gradual degradation, so that they are actually faster than RSs for the last half of the race.

We'll have to wait and see, of course. It is all just wild speculation at this point.

 

[newmedia_dev]

Im not so sure as anecdotally I set my fastest laps at the lower end of the wear, but that could just be track knowledge at that point.

It will be interesting to see this play out now.

Same strat as always, out of the top 5 run the mediums, at the front run the softs

 

[911RSR]

Here is my, as always pretty late, race report:

Race 1:
I qualified P6, made it thru turn 1, but in the curvy section under the bridges someone, 3 or 4 cars in front of me, lost the car and in the following chain reaction i was hit in the back and meet Barry. That meant back to P14. I gained some positions but i thought i have nothing to loose, so i went for RH tyres after lap 2.
That could have worked, but i must have crossed a pixel of the pit entry lane that gave me a 3 sec penalty. And 2 laps later, as RH tyres wre actually easy driveable, i spun and lost about 10 sec. P13 in the end.

Race 2:
Again P6 in the qualy. A very wild lap 1. In a fast left hander i was hit from the car behind and said hallo to Barry again. That meant i was damn last. But i could close the gap to the guys in front.
This time i changed to RH after lap 4. In the final lap i was P9 and very close to P8 and 7. In the last hairpin i had a much better exit then those 2 and passed one of them to P8 and hoping to get even P7 while i was very close in his slipstream.
But the french Nissan guy i just passed, wasn't happy with his new position. He rammed me on the right rear wheel 4 or 5 times until i spun. I'm still wondering how small his genitals must be ...

Race 3:
This time i put my RSR on P4 in the qualy.

At the start of the race the guys behaved well. The M6 from P2 had some problems in turn 1 and i could pass him in T2.
The pole setter lost his McLaren in the curvy part of lap 1.
In the hairpin the Ferrari from P6 missed his break point, but magicly had a better exit than me and took P2.
From this point it was quite uneventfull driving. I followed the leader to pit after lap 6 for RH.
My laptimes were about a second slower the the norwegian guy with the fasted lap. And he was closing the gap to me.
In lapp 11 he was right at my tail. I didn't wanted to risk the whole race for one position, fighting a guy who is much quicker than me, so i let him pass easy.
So it was P4 in the end. Which i'm happy with.

78 points isn't much, but i managed a race without crashing at a decent speed.

 

[bliprunner]

Well put me down as another who had a nightmare at Tokyo.

First race I qualified 4th... feeling pretty good but early got early damage (not my fault), then pitted too early and smashed my car up getting off the dry line (my fault). I almost never quit races but this time I decided to take dog for a walk and come back for race two.

Sadly this was like watching a repeat of race one. Once again was hit and damaged by others and with a very slow car ahead on my hards out lap I ended up in the barriers and lost another 30 seconds doing a twelve point turn...

No walk for the dog this time, instead I opted for an exciting second stop to repair about 10 seconds of damage followed by a long drive home for P14

 

[MCL1974]

So did my first American race. Qualifying went well, was out of the pits first and my second flying lap gave my a low 2.06. Only issue was that there was one driver in a Porsche that was a second faster in his first and only flying lap!? oh well....

So started second and getting through turn one was easy as almost all cars behind stalled due to a bad connection. I knew that there was no chance in hell that I could fight the Porsche for the win so all I could do was stay as close behind him as possible and hope for a mistake from him.

I actually could stay pretty close while on the intermediates, he pitted lap 5 when he was about 3 seconds in front. I continued and was considering to not pit at all but in the end decided to pit lap 6. Got back in 2nd position and watched the Porsche getting more ahead each lap. He won with ease and I got second place.

Oddly, I did enjoy the race, even though I had no chance to win as every lap I did was pretty much the best I could, no (serious) contacts with the wall or anything, every lap a solid time, so pleased with my performance in the end. And enjoyed practicing and learning the track the past week.

 

[Fezzik]

I may be one of the only ones who actually enjoy racing at Autopolis. This week should be fun, even if it is just a sprint with no strategy.

 

[MCL1974]

I may be one of the only ones who actually enjoy racing at Autopolis. This week should be fun, even if it is just a sprint with no strategy.

my too actually. Did a few laps in the AMG and it is awesome though difficult track to drive. It really is a challenging one and you need a good balanced car. I am so much slower in the Lexus here....

 

[Fezzik]

my too actually. Did a few laps in the AMG and it is awesome though difficult track to drive. It really is a challenging one and you need a good balanced car. I am so much slower in the Lexus here....

Yeah, the RC F probably a bit of a handful out of the hairpins. My Beetle is nicely stable though a bit too understeery through the faster bends.

 

[MetalApe]

Yeah, the RC F probably a bit of a handful out of the hairpins. My Beetle is nicely stable though a bit too understeery through the faster bends.

I loved driving the Beetle there, I thought it's main weakness was down the long straight. Especially on Lap 1 where the following cars are catching up dangerously close, making turn 1 very perilous.

Sorry, still catching up, I was talking about Tokyo. Haven't driven Autopolis in it yet, but generally gone well there when it's been used in the dailies, so hoping for a good result.