GTP WRS-Online Event 1 : BallS1 to the Wall - January 29, 2014

  • Thread starter Gravitron
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For those who don't know what GTP WRS racing is all about, you are missing out! There is something very satisfying about competing with like minded people in a demanding environment :) It's been over a year since I raced in the WRS, but there was always a feeling that I would come back as I learned a lot and enjoyed my time here.

The first race back was a baptism of fire for me. Not a combo I was ever any good with: comfortable yes, but it pointed out a lot of my sim racing weaknesses! I vowed to overcome and I dug deep to improve, and the WRS got me to find the best in me.

The EU race was sublime. With the greater quantity of racers, I was sure to find more folks running close to my lap times and I was not disappointed. The room was intense, but really stable, so running bumper to bumper was easy and thrilling. Frank and I were on a no-stopper stategy that did us both well as we gained positions from it and got to mess with the guys who were faster than us.

The NA race had a much more unstable room. Some of the cars around me seemed to dance at times (it appeared to my MrMeloncholy was going sideways on the straights every know and then :eek:). @Bleached and I thought the other was trying to drive us off the straight! But the level was so much higher in the room that I found myself in a couple of intense battles deeper in the field, @See23 is a demon on the brakes. And it was nice to see (hear...) the familiar WRS family :)

Thanks to the organizers and stewards 👍 you all work hard so the rest of us can play :gtpflag:

@Racingworld68, Frank we forgive your qualifying room set-up! You did a great job at herding us in :)

See you all next week at Monza!
 
hi guys. i'm new here.. i was surprised how the EU lobby wasn't laggy and everythings works. I enjoy the race a lot.. was little bit slow, therefore i choose no-stop strategy and it looks well until lap 35.. then pass me @cheba88 and in the last lap @emestone. My tires were completely destroyed and on the finnish line the fuel runs out :-) but i'm really satisfied with my first race here.. thanks.. see you next time.
 
@pilmat, glad you came back to race with us and hope you stay longer this time!

----

The lounge connections can be sort of random. In GT5 we had 2.4 hour enduros where 16 drivers took part without a single invisible driver and without a single DC. We had other that are chalk full of issues. There isn't a pattern between EU and NA really, it's a function of the drivers in the room and luck (or rather the condition of servers).

We ask that all drivers do the best to optimize their setups/connections which gives us the best opportunity to get a good race. See the networking thread and ask there. We are keeping track of drivers with consistent invisible driver issues... If the problem persists and they make no effort to diagnose they risk having to sit out. E.g. If you have had issues form2 straight weeks and show up week three and after 3-4 attempts can't see multiple drivers then that is not a safe racing setup and in consideration of the other drivers without issues we will ask you to leave or just observe. This is a tough thing to do, but people are on schedules and we need all Wednesday races to be complete within 90 minutes of the official start. I've asked the directors to be strict/diligent on this.

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The races yesterday were epic from my POV.

EU-C: I sat this out so I could steward. Many new (to WRS) drivers in this grid and honestly I wasn't sure how it would go given this tricky combo. In a word... Impressed! Everyone new the quali, formation, start procedures and followed instructions very well. The race start and turn 1 seemed very nice from where I was watching. There was a very interesting battle for the top 3 positions and I enjoyed watching it. Some lapped cars did a great job observing the blue flag which takes awareness. I did get one report to look at, but haven't had time yet, as you'll see below I raced myself too!

NA-a: oink had the raw pace and won pole easily with a 13.1. Last year his goal was to beat me and now my goal is to try and stay in his draft. :boggled: so oink was the rabbit early and I hung on while JTV slowly slipped back in third. After a dozen laps oink made a mistake and I took the lead. I extended it steadily for a while, but realize JTV not only started chopping into it, but he wasn't likely to pit. No way I could pit so I decided to roll the dice... Start at lap 30 I could see him and his gains in the mirror. At lap 36 my front right tire dropped to 3 and on lap 38 we went two wide into turn 1 where I went too wide and caught some sand. But my tires soon clicked to 2 and I lost 15+ Seconds over 3 laps to finish 2nd. JTV saved tires early and it paid off where I tore mine to shreds trying to keep up with oink.

AU: Small field of 6 but some fast drivers. Got pole with 13.4 with animera right behind and JTV in 3rd. Animera pushed me hard early, but my NA race had me in the groove so I chalked up about a dozen mid/high 13s to get a gap. JTV had dropped back and Gravitron and animera got in a battle for 2nd so I focused on tire preservation while trying to stay at 14.5 every lap. It worked like a charm. I finished for my first win in GT6 without a pit and my tires were still at 4 (vs 2 in NA)... The tires really slow at 3 and 2 is like a cliff (for this combo at least).

Running TT type laps was not the fastest strategy this week... A smoother controlled approach was better over the long haul. This is why I love the combination of TT plus online race. The TT is boot camp to wrench every bit of pace within your abilities. The online race is about implementing that knowledge, but smoothing it out and executing it consistently over and over in an hour in constantly changing conditions. Master both and you can be proud.

Really glad to be back in "official mode" and looking forward to next week. :cheers:
 
Regarding tire wear:
I lasted 26 laps before my times dropped from consistent high 1'14 down to 16s. After the pit stop I ran steady mid 15's.
In a practice I got some pointers from @PASM and discussed over working the fronts as in smoking the tires and turning the wear indicators red. To some degree he said that was ok and the nature of that car.
@pilmat commented in his last post that I'm a "demon on the brakes", which may be a compliment (thank you), but I'm concerned I'm overdriving the car through the corners trying to make up time I'm losing somewhere else.?
When I watch replays my car looks like a jet in an airshow with a smoke trail while cars around me have a short burst of tire smoke and then nothing, yet we are neck and neck through the turn.
@Patrick1 was behind me for a few laps. What did you see? Could you see thru the smoke? Lol
Does anyone else see that in their replays? Could there be more detail, like smoke, in the replays from the PS that it is saved on? Are they all the same?
In the mean time I'll work on "unwind".
 
The EU - C room was lot's of fun and thank you WRP001 for managing this very well.
The top 3 battle was incredible, especially when a warning appeared "Controller battery very low!". I was in 2nd position around 3 seconds behind the first car on lap 25 and i had to make a pitstop to plug in my USB cable into my DS3.
I knew i could make 42 laps with a full tank (had tested this before) and i still had 6 on my front right tire so i was thinking not to change the tires. Finishing 3rd was not bad after all.
 
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@See23, in the NA A room I think you and I were the most consistent "smokers". I only noticed afterward when watching the replay, so in the AU race later that evening I tried to be better about not causing smoke, especially as I went for the no-stop. But it was tough as the car didn't really punish you for overdriving until later when you are left wondering where your tires went.

Useful tips for looking at the replays:
- FF to a lap just prior to the first guy to pit. Pause, and then cycle through the cars, taking a close note of the tire life left on each. That will give you clues about who to emulate.
- Try to notice how far other guys' front wheels are turning. Especially on a combo like this, it's easy to turn the wheel too far and make tire wear worse for no real gain. Possible that watching from cockpit view will give an idea of wheel movements as well (not sure, haven't tried it).

---
NA-A: Had hopes of staying with Tim/Jon/Paul but that soon evaporated and I was locked in with Kev and Bleached(Vipond). Back and forth we went and was just happy to end in the same general vicinity as them. 👍

Congrats Jon, Tim, and Paul for the win/podiums. :cheers:

@Bleached, @pilmat: That incident at the end was very unfortunate. It seems like you're both moving past it and hopefully realizing that there was a bit of mutual fault as well as uncertainty due to network connections.

Two things we'd like to see done differently though:
  • Don't call out the other driver in the room chat (or in the thread, for that matter). Cool off, go look at the replay, then contact the other driver if you still feel the same.
  • If there's any shred of doubt in your mind when there's contact and the other guy goes off and you don't, you should wait. If you continue without waiting you're gambling that it wasn't your fault, and risking a post-race penalty.

---

EU: Nice way to end the night. :) Jon had an early incident in the final chicane and I couldn't avoid T-boning him. :ouch: Had to leave him behind and see if I could get back to Tim and Animera. Right as I was ready to try a draft pass on Animera he ducked into the pits, and since my tires weren't feeling nearly as slippery as they did in the NA race, I decided to go for the no-stop. 4sec behind Tim eventually turned into about 18sec with a few laps left, and then the cliff he mentioned happened and I lost another 10sec. 2nd felt like a gift at that point. :)

Congrats Tim on the win and Animera on the other podium. :cheers:
 
Gravitron
@Bleached, @pilmat: That incident at the end was very unfortunate. It seems like you're both moving past it and hopefully realizing that there was a bit of mutual fault as well as uncertainty due to network connections.

Two things we'd like to see done differently though:
  • Don't call out the other driver in the room chat (or in the thread, for that matter). Cool off, go look at the replay, then contact the other driver if you still feel the same.
  • If there's any shred of doubt in your mind when there's contact and the other guy goes off and you don't, you should wait. If you continue without waiting you're gambling that it wasn't your fault, and risking a post-race penalty.
Click to expand...
@Bleached have spoken and all is good. And the message is clear on the post race chat :)
 
Another thing with tires. I didn't manage them well in NA and was much better in AU... It's kind of late for this specific advise for this combo, I didn't even do it myself before yesterday as I figured I would do one stop and changed strategy on the fly after watching the EU races and strategies, but this analysis can be done in any combo when tires are a factor (especially if you are trying to cut a stop from your strategy).

Focus on which tire is the biggest problem. In this case it was the fronts and in particular the front right (give it's a counter clockwise track that's expected). Once you make gains with the front right you might want to make a lesser effort on the front left, but for the most part you can hit the front left pretty hard and be OK after 41 laps here.


ApricotHilla.jpg


List the corners with heavy load on front right:
  • 1/2 = First two corners
  • 4 = part of T1 S-curves
  • 6 = Long left sweeper
  • 7 = hairpin
  • 10 = off camber entry to chicane
  • 11 = 2nd part of chicane
  • 12 = final corner
First corners:

You want to be braking into 1 with the wheel fairly straight and steady braking. So set up wide so you can brake as straight as possible. More important though is you bleed speed so when you do have to do the heavy/sharper turn 2 you are not going so fast that you side across the fronts. Between 1 and 2 under braking is where all the magic is. Dive in there fast and don't bleed enough speed and you miss the apex AND blow both fronts and especially the front right. Progressively brake and get slow enough that you can take 2 inside without too much over-steer and your tires will pay you back and it's faster.

4: S-Curve

You should be on throttle control here to make corner anyway... just focus on exit and this is not a major tire eater here... so don't focus on it as far as tires if you have a good line

6: Big Sweeper

Very long straight after so you need to use what you got to get a good exit. But don't go in too hot and shift down to 4th earlier than you would in a quali lap. Get on a gas maybe a micron later will allow you to exit with less steering and almost the same speed. I'd say focus on entry to save tires, but the exit should be about speed and not tire saving.

7: At first glance the hairpin shouldn't work your front right, but the front right can get damaged on exit if you try and flip the car around on full throttle. Don't worry about entry changes much, you still want to hit the apex and get on gas quick, but in the TT you could basically jam the gas with heavy wheel turn and pull it around... with tire wear enabled over a long race you are better off to get the car a bit more around the apex and exit in a smoother throttle application manner... this will save both fronts.

10. This one is a big tire waster if you end up going in too hot and sliding down the camber and fighting it. Brake early and straighter and get into the off camber section at the correct speed to hold your line. All you really want out of this corner is to set up the chicane... a bit of lost speed here won't amount to much compared to some tire savings.

11. The exit part of the chicane can blast your tires for just a short run. Better to take the chicane a bit easier and return to throttle with the wheel straighter and smoother.

12. Longest straight following so you can't afford to compromise much. But you are also not gaining anything by using the fronts to understeer and bleed away speed. This corner should be optimized for exit speed while taking a good line that will not kill tires. A later/wider entry while letting off the gas so you just touch the inside rumbles at apex allows you to get the same SFL speed but using much less of the fronts. Late in the race you will lose gobs of time in this corner if your tires are done so saving everywhere will pay off huge here.
 
After last night's race I would do things quite differently if I ran it again. (Hindsight is 20/20) :)
I was guilty of scrubbing the life out of my tyres and consequently had to watch Tim get further ahead Gravitron getting bigger in my mirror. Eventually I had to pit on lap 21 :( as my tyres were finished.
Spent the rest of the race trying to close the gap, only to ruin my 2nd set of tyres and limp around for the last 3 laps.
Lesson learned, and a very valuable lesson it was.
 
For those who haven't seen it yet; I made a video of my Time Trial lap with different camera views. I also included the cockpit camera, because you can see my steering movements. It starts at 2:33, the following link should get you immediately to the beginning of that camera view.

My basic approach to every combo is: smooth is fast. This car was definitely tough to apply that, especially in the longer races. In the EU race, Andrew (@doodlemonoply) and I were on quite similar pace. I tried to apply pressure for the first 20 laps, but Andrew got his act together and never gave me more than a hair of an opportunity. But never enough to launch an overtaking move. Meanwhile my tires weren't benefiting from running in the slipstream, but I didn't stress them too hard in the critical sections like the S curves and the long left-hander. It did however give me the chance to save a little fuel, by lifting of the throttle a fraction earlier before each major braking zone. I reached the finish comfortably on 1 tank. The tires however went off the last 3 laps, and James (@Twissy) got by 2 laps before the end! Well done 👍

Youtube
 
I've noticed in a previous race that there is a Race Results post that shows everyone's times/place. Is that something that there is going to be more of in the future?
 
GTP_DeathStar
I've noticed in a previous race that there is a Race Results post that shows everyone's times/place. Is that something that there is going to be more of in the future?
Click to expand...
Gravitron
We'll have official results out when they're sorted. :gtpflag:zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:snore:
Click to expand...

Absolutely. ;) We're going to post them all together and we're still waiting on some data. Should be within the next 8hrs or so.
 
PASM
For those who haven't seen it yet; I made a video of my Time Trial lap with different camera views. I also included the cockpit camera, because you can see my steering movements. It starts at 2:33, the following link should get you immediately to the beginning of that camera view.

My basic approach to every combo is: smooth is fast. This car was definitely tough to apply that, especially in the longer races. In the EU race, Andrew (@doodlemonoply) and I were on quite similar pace. I tried to apply pressure for the first 20 laps, but Andrew got his act together and never gave me more than a hair of an opportunity. But never enough to launch an overtaking move. Meanwhile my tires weren't benefiting from running in the slipstream, but I didn't stress them too hard in the critical sections like the S curves and the long left-hander. It did however give me the chance to save a little fuel, by lifting of the throttle a fraction earlier before each major braking zone. I reached the finish comfortably on 1 tank. The tires however went off the last 3 laps, and James (@Twissy) got by 2 laps before the end! Well done 👍
Youtube
Click to expand...
I was watching you practice last night and you can tell how smooth and more you can do when u have a wheel.
 
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serfon
The EU - C room was lot's of fun and thank you WRP001 for managing this very well.
The top 3 battle was incredible, especially when a warning appeared "Controller battery very low!". I was in 2nd position around 3 seconds behind the first car on lap 25 and i had to make a pitstop to plug in my USB cable into my DS3.
I knew i could make 42 laps with a full tank (had tested this before) and i still had 6 on my front right tire so i was thinking not to change the tires. Finishing 3rd was not bad after all.
Click to expand...
Sound like a good come back after a low battery anything can happan in racing. Good Job
 
PASM
For those who haven't seen it yet; I made a video of my Time Trial lap with different camera views. I also included the cockpit camera, because you can see my steering movements. It starts at 2:33, the following link should get you immediately to the beginning of that camera view.

My basic approach to every combo is: smooth is fast. This car was definitely tough to apply that, especially in the longer races. In the EU race, Andrew (@doodlemonoply) and I were on quite similar pace. I tried to apply pressure for the first 20 laps, but Andrew got his act together and never gave me more than a hair of an opportunity. But never enough to launch an overtaking move. Meanwhile my tires weren't benefiting from running in the slipstream, but I didn't stress them too hard in the critical sections like the S curves and the long left-hander. It did however give me the chance to save a little fuel, by lifting of the throttle a fraction earlier before each major braking zone. I reached the finish comfortably on 1 tank. The tires however went off the last 3 laps, and James (@Twissy) got by 2 laps before the end! Well done 👍
Youtube
Click to expand...
Excellent lap, you and @Twissy are insane. I realised go Big or go Home comes to play, i wasnt brave but being smooth, you were both + fast. Its shows practise makes perfect. Was that a 900 degree steer as it looked jolty in places?

And twissy, was the downshifting acting like a handbrake/airbrake to cut speed?
 
Here are the results... they will not technically become "official" until end of day Friday, but nothing outstanding at this point. Please let us know if you see any errors or omissions. Congratz to all the participants! A few first time WRS winners. 👍 Will follow up with our traditional anthem post :cheers:


GT6_001_140129_EU_results.png


GT6_001_140129_NA_results.png


GT6_001_140129_AU_results.png
 
Well, I figured out why I DC'd so quickly in the American race...I didn't come in last in the European race and I usually don't do so well. It was fate balancing the universe. :lol:
 
Regarding tire wear, tire smoke and replays:
I watched the replay from the various cars points of views and noticed a significant difference in detail from my car to the rest. Image clarity and detail, sound and aspects like exhaust flame and, likely, tire smoke were greatly reduced from the viewpoint of all other cars. I believe any tire scrub marks that remained on the track were from my car only.
That said, I think it's good to know that watching replays to see details like brake lights(braking points), tire scrub/smoke, steering input for other cars, is a limited tool. ...but not completely useless.
 
Yah, I would agree... Laggy replays alone can give dubious insight as to the timing of inputs. Having the faster drivers explain what they are doing and their approach is better. Having both together can be nice though as the replay can enforce the words.

Sometime in replays, due to lag, cars micro-slide on a straight and smoke for no reason. Just look at speedy's video from Fuji last week. :lol:
 
The massive merged results below. For those that haven't seen this table before, here's how it works:
We use the total race time of each driver (or # of laps for those that did not cross the finish by the expiration of the clock) to merge/rank all rooms to see how times would compare across lounges. To make things even across lobbies we deduct the pole sitter's formation lap time from all drivers in that room. If you ran in two time slots (or three) your individual races will show up separately on the table.
Admittedly, it's not a perfect comparison as competition, traffic and other conditions certainly vary per room, but it does make for some interesting data to look at. Some observations (please post with your own if you see something interesting):
  • Twissy (not surprisingly) got the hat trick (fastest overall time, race lap, quali lap).
  • JTV wins the endurance prize with with three entries logging 120 laps. :boggled:
  • Vipond gets the consistency award with two races differing by an entire 0.0146% (0.4 secs)!
  • Gravitron gets most improved with a 15 sec improvement from NA to AU.
    • Didn't do the full math to check that he has most improved, but looks it from table.
  • WRP (me :lol:) got the D1 sandwich award, placing my D2 colors in a sea of D1 blue.
  • PASM gets the tire saver award for the top finish among drivers with the fewest stops.
GT6_001_140129_merged_results.png
 
Good one, Mohit. 👍 But he did have this going on in the NA race, where he took the lead for a while:


Apricot Hill Raceway_2_small.jpg



​
 
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