Help! Willow Springs Neo Classics - I have nothing more to give!

[vonMarshall]

So a bit of background... I am a B/A level driver online, drive with a DS2 and play GT7 on Hard settings.

Most races I can win easily and there are a few select ones that take me a few goes or where I need to refine car choice, tactics or head tp the tuning forum to help.

But Willow Springs seems to me to be impossible.

I know the track well, have gold in the driving experience by over 1/2 second and am now pretty consistent. I probably leave .25 seconds a lap out there for fear of getting too close to the edge and ending the lap, but not much more than that and there is no way I can do 10 qualifying level laps back to back so it is going to have to stay out there.

I have a Jaguar XR-9 as my weapon of choice and really don't want to have to invest in another Gr.1 car so hope I can get 3rd at least with this. I started stock and was doing 1:12's in it, the Priano tune did not really suit my style, but I found another tune which really worked for me...

Jag XR-9 tune by BrainstormAQ

Some judicious tweaking of the gearbox now has it as good as I can get it.

The winner normally gets a time of anywhere between 11:45 and 11:55 so is averaging 1:10 laps. He is normally about 15 seconds ahead of me to begin the race.

I have tried this menu book nearly 20 times now and tried the following...

Hard tires, FM2-3 no stopping. Not bad for 8 laps and up to 2nd in one race, but the tires (front in particular) just won't last and I was suddenly 4-5 seconds too slow on the last lap. Most laps @1:10 apart from the 1st and the last!

Medium tires, FM1 with a single stop. Most laps @ 1:09 but the stop adds 15 back in.

The end result is I don't know how I can go much faster in this car and I certainly cannot work out a way to no-stop, but I am 15 seconds off the leader no matter which strategy I follow and seem to bag 5th almost every go.

I only need 3rd to finish this menu having found RB reasonably easy, Fuji was a nightmare (but I hate that track) but finally I got there. This one however is the first of all the offline content to have me beaten.

To win this I need to do 1:09's on hards and not stop, or 1:07's on mediums. Any ideas?

 

[KAlex122]

These races are coming up for me too on my new account. Don't know how i did them before. Just want to say: pitting is really fast on this track, so probably you are faster with a stop.

 

[Meythia]

Although you want to stick to your car, this event seemed to be the easiest done with Mazda 787B as a no-stop racer.
I havent tried with the Jag, but Porsche and Nissan were slower in my hands.
Cant currently give it a shot, disc version is currently at a friends place.

 

[i386]

I'm a mediocre driver and finished this race on hard by using almost "stock" tunes (I don't really like tuning the cars) and car height on the lwoest settings:
I used different group c cars with downforce front on the lowest, downforce rear on the highest setting, hard tires (for less pitstops, less pp -> more pp for bhp) and suspension/car height settings on the lowest setting (more information why this helps: https://www.gran-turismo.com/us/gt7/apex/settings/01)

 

[Autobahn GTO]

So a bit of background... I am a B/A level driver online, drive with a DS2 and play GT7 on Hard settings.

Most races I can win easily and there are a few select ones that take me a few goes or where I need to refine car choice, tactics or head tp the tuning forum to help.

But Willow Springs seems to me to be impossible.

I know the track well, have gold in the driving experience by over 1/2 second and am now pretty consistent. I probably leave .25 seconds a lap out there for fear of getting too close to the edge and ending the lap, but not much more than that and there is no way I can do 10 qualifying level laps back to back so it is going to have to stay out there.

I have a Jaguar XR-9 as my weapon of choice and really don't want to have to invest in another Gr.1 car so hope I can get 3rd at least with this. I started stock and was doing 1:12's in it, the Priano tune did not really suit my style, but I found another tune which really worked for me...

Jag XR-9 tune by BrainstormAQ

Some judicious tweaking of the gearbox now has it as good as I can get it.

The winner normally gets a time of anywhere between 11:45 and 11:55 so is averaging 1:10 laps. He is normally about 15 seconds ahead of me to begin the race.

I have tried this menu book nearly 20 times now and tried the following...

Hard tires, FM2-3 no stopping. Not bad for 8 laps and up to 2nd in one race, but the tires (front in particular) just won't last and I was suddenly 4-5 seconds too slow on the last lap. Most laps @1:10 apart from the 1st and the last!

Medium tires, FM1 with a single stop. Most laps @ 1:09 but the stop adds 15 back in.

The end result is I don't know how I can go much faster in this car and I certainly cannot work out a way to no-stop, but I am 15 seconds off the leader no matter which strategy I follow and seem to bag 5th almost every go.

I only need 3rd to finish this menu having found RB reasonably easy, Fuji was a nightmare (but I hate that track) but finally I got there. This one however is the first of all the offline content to have me beaten.

To win this I need to do 1:09's on hards and not stop, or 1:07's on mediums. Any ideas?

I recently beat all 3 Neoclassical races in Menu Book 43 on hard difficulty with the C9. Big Willow was the 1st of those 3 races I did. I used praiano63's PP 900 setup for the C9 but of course detuned it for the Big Willow race. It turned out to be pretty decent. I did have to pit once for fresh tires and to top off on fuel.

My suggestion would be to use a higher downforce setup, because that made it much easier to pass the AI cars at turn 2 as well as coming out of the last turn (provided you don’t follow them too closely entering the last turn). It’s also quite easy to pass the AI cars under braking at turns 3, 4, and 5, because they brake quite early. To compensate for the loss in straight line speed, fit nitro to the car and use it on the straights (just be frugal with it by lowering the output adjustment so that it can last for the entire race). Fitting nitro to the car does not influence the PP.

If you would like to see how I did it, you can refer to my YT video and post here:

Cafe Menu 43

Mazda 787B tune, and it worked out for me under Hard difficulty. Strategy guide for each race: Results: - Big Willow Red Bull Ring (dry) Red Bull Ring (wet) Fuji Speedway (dry) Fuji Speedway (wet) Tune on the Mazda did it for me, txs Consistent 1:09's flat with leader in Jaguar got...

www.gtplanet.net

 

[Lomic]

Fitting nitro to the car does not influence the PP.

Really ??? Another dumb decision by PD.

Finished that café menu yesterday with RBR and Fuji, with the Porsche 962C with a tune from Praiano. Easy win each time, mostly due to bad pitting strategy from AI. Althought it's been close to have no rain at all at RBR and I thought I'd never rejoin the head of the race.

Did Willow a week ago, and was not used to the car so I've driven very badly, yet finished 2nd at a few 10th from leader, and have been 1st for a good part of the last lap.

Done no pit stop for each event. Tyres hold on pretty well and FM makes the fuel last enough to finish.

But I think I am not on hard difficulty.

 

[Meythia]

Really ??? Another dumb decision by PD.

It has its own ruleset that either allows it or not, there is no need to include it into PP.

 

[Lomic]

It has its own ruleset that either allows it or not, there is no need to include it into PP.

I am not speaking of ruling nitro, but the fact that adding nitro has no impact on PP.

 

[XSquareStickIt]

If you're really struggling with the Big Willow event, I'd recommend the 787B. Downgrade the car to 400HP, RH tyres, and you should be able to do consistent 1:08s in clean air. The car has enough fuel to almost run the race twice over. I beat the guy in 2nd by more than 10s. It's a cheat car with a cheat engine that's well worth the investment IMO.

Frustratingly, I'm struggling with the RBR race. With that very same 787B at 799PP, the AI's fastest 787B lap is around 4 seconds faster than mine. I'm doing around low 1:28s in clean air, AI was doing it in low 1:24s, and they don't pit unlike at Big Willow.

 

[Lomic]

Frustratingly, I'm struggling with the RBR race. With that very same 787B at 799PP, the AI's fastest 787B lap is around 4 seconds faster than mine. I'm doing around low 1:28s in clean air, AI was doing it in low 1:24s, and they don't pit unlike at Big Willow.

Grady gave me some tough time with his 787B but with the rain coming in at the very end he struggled a bit and I managed to pass him just before he exited the pits and stay in front.

 

[shadow0460]

I won that one ages ago with the Escudo. I also was very close to winning with the Pennzoil GT-R.

If you're really struggling with the Big Willow event, I'd recommend the 787B. Downgrade the car to 400HP, RH tyres, and you should be able to do consistent 1:08s in clean air. The car has enough fuel to almost run the race twice over. I beat the guy in 2nd by more than 10s. It's a cheat car with a cheat engine that's well worth the investment IMO.

Frustratingly, I'm struggling with the RBR race. With that very same 787B at 799PP, the AI's fastest 787B lap is around 4 seconds faster than mine. I'm doing around low 1:28s in clean air, AI was doing it in low 1:24s, and they don't pit unlike at Big Willow.

The R92 is even more frugal with its fuel, and that's a typical piston engine. I'd put money on the Sauber C9 winning this also, or possibly the F-1500 or MP 4/4 if they can be de tuned that much.
I won RBR with the Pennzoil car.

 

[DextroCat]

The CLK-LM was what I used and it’s in the LCD right now. A great car, definitely worth the cost.

 

[vonMarshall]

Well I finally bagged 2nd.

Went no-stop on hard tires using loads of downforce and taking the power hit.

The net effect was I could comfortably hit low 1:09's on FM2 and have just enough fuel to do 10 laps, because I was using less power. And as for the tires, the extra downforce meant less understeer and less wear so the fronts just about lasted and I could manage a 1:12 for a total time of 11:43. In some races that could get you the gold.

Think I'll pick myself up the Mazda next time it is available. I have become oddly a fan of Willow (which I used to hate) and detuned 800pp gr.1 cars from the 80's.

 

[hyperspeed980]

I am not speaking of ruling nitro, but the fact that adding nitro has no impact on PP.

If nitrous was something that was always activated, then yes, it would make sense for it to impact PP. But, considering it isn't always on, there's no way to calculate its impact on performance, because its effect depends entirely on when and where you use it during a race.