Laguna Seca Lap Times For 449 Cars (And Counting!)

[HBR-Roadhog]

Not sure where 200hp comes into play--when does grip increase as power does? Still, "putting power down" is a function of linear grip, and that really boils down to throttle control and being comfortable enough with a set car/course combination that you know when you can get away with more liberal application.

200hp was just a number I picked out of the air. It may or may not be a good one in this case.

The point was that some cars do not have so much power that a CH tire can not handle most or all of it where as some/most cars will have much more than those tires will put down.

Obviously grip does not increase as power goes up, the need for grip most surely does. For example a car like say the 47 Beetle will be fine on CH tires putting full power to the road at any speed where as a Ford GT is going to have a very hard time gaining traction on those things and as a result will not be able to get more than a fraction of the available power to the road until it reaches a much higher speed.

Of course I don't care what anyone is using just pointing out that the slow cars will seem faster compared to the faster cars than they other wise would.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Which track do you guys think makes for a better testing grounds, Laguna Seca or Suzuka Circuit? For GT7, I only want to do one or the other.

And also for GT7, should I use whatever tires the cars come with, or should I use Comfort Softs for every car? I feel like Mediums won't be enough to be fair for the supercars. In that regard, I agree with @HBR-Roadhog. I want to be as realistic as possible.

 

[TexRex]

@SuzukaStar
I assume stick with what you know as far as circuits go, and for comparisons of in-game cars it's probably better to go with the tires that come as standard unless you want to put a little more thought into selection and look at what tires are equipped from the factory, or, for a little less thought required, go down one compound and for the most part be closer to realistic grip (you'll always end up on Comforts, too). It's really a big can of worms, though, because there's still the issue of those alignment values.

@HBR-Roadhog
I've never had much difficulty differentiating between a slow car and a fast car when running the same low grade tire. There's the obvious "Holy crap on a cracker, I need to be more careful" sensation, but there's also a noticeable difference in lateral grip from the wider tires (from what I understand is taken into account by the grip multiplier that every car has) and any mechanical aid to lateral grip. I'm not saying that I'm right or that anyone else is wrong, only that I feel I benefit from the information I get slapping on cheapies for every new car.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

I had my first real annoyance...the SRT Viper SRT10 Coupe '06.

It fought me every inch of the way, but I wrestled that SOB to a nice, clean 1:43 after being stuck at 1:44.002 for what seemed like forever, but was really only 15 or 20 minutes...

The C6 Z06 didn't cause me this much of a problem...

 

[Johnnypenso]

Which track do you guys think makes for a better testing grounds, Laguna Seca or Suzuka Circuit? For GT7, I only want to do one or the other.

And also for GT7, should I use whatever tires the cars come with, or should I use Comfort Softs for every car? I feel like Mediums won't be enough to be fair for the supercars. In that regard, I agree with @HBR-Roadhog. I want to be as realistic as possible.

I'd wait and see what tracks are added to the game and what they do with the tire model in the mean time before deciding. Assuming things are relatively similar I think going with more than one tire model would make sense. A Vitz doesn't come with the same quality tire as a Zonda after all. Perhaps CM for the beaters, older cars, econoboxes etc. CS for modern sedans and medium powered sports cars. SH for the faster supercars and high end machinery.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Maybe I'll separate tire choice by PP limits? Say CH for everything under 300 PP, CM for 300-400 PP, CS for 400-500 PP and SH for 500+ PP.

Edit - my ps3 froze last night and now it won't play games. I replaced the blu-ray laser a few months ago. Looks like I have to replace it again already. It might be a while til I add some lap times...Is GT6 on the PSN store? Maybe I'll just download it...

But first I'll backup all my data and try a factory restore. Had the system since 2010 and never did the restore.

 

[NCRthree]

I use a pretty casual system for my tire choices. I run all stock vehicles with no aids.

CH for any vintage or lower powered car. Miatas, FF's, all old muscle or old HP street sportscars. For instance the Scion FR-S on CH has been a blast, you can loose the rear like the real life car otherwise it's just too planted. Older Ferraris feel great on CH.

CM is my default for most all late model sports sedans or mid range sportscar. And any exotic or hp sportscar from the 80's. RX7's, Evos, STI's, Skylines, 80's -early 90's Vettes, etc...

CS for hp exotics and the latest hp sportscars. I'm using this as the highest grade stock compound the car would be equipped with. GTR, Vette, Viper and such

SH for track specialty cars. SVT Cobra, ACR Viper, all Tuners

This works for me for casual driving like seasonals or Arcade but if it's for an event that I'm competing for a fast time, I'll run whatever is allowed. My choices have come from using some common sense and reading about tire choices from experienced GTP users.

I've been on tracks in real life with street tires enough to know it's not as easy as it seems in GT with default tires.

disclaimer: These opinions are strictly my own and for my own enjoyment not as a recommendation for anyone else or as a judgement on any other driver's tire choice.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Since my PS3 won't read discs anymore, can someone find out which tires get this car up to 128 mph on the straight as shown in this video? And its minimum speed through the hairpin is 41 mph. Its lap time is 1:39.69

I'd guess CS tires.

 

[Thematic]

Since my PS3 won't read discs anymore, can someone find out which tires get this car up to 128 mph on the straight as shown in this video? And its minimum speed through the hairpin is 41 mph. Its lap time is 1:39.69

I'd guess CS tires.

I had some difficulty to come up with a minimum speed of 62 km/h in the last corner, but it was at 66 (41) for most of the turn in. Used all the kerb on entry and exit.

edit: cs tyres 👍

 

[ryzno]

GT is on PSN. I had the same problem with replacement BR Drives. I'm not sure if the price has gone down, it was still $60 last I checked.

Be warned. Almost 20GB. Took me 7+ hours to download and install(with pretty good internet.)

 

[MidFieldMaven]

GT6 is $40 on PSN. Forget that. If it was $20 I may have considered it.

Why is it cheaper in store than on PSN? It's $30 on Amazon and I'm sure I can find it on ebay for less than $20 new.

 

[ryzno]

They are milking the cash cow, for the convince of not having to go to the store or wait for the mail. And people like me who are tired of repairing a system near the end of its market life. $$$
Also Sony keeps all the profit, since they don't have to share it with a store.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Even Grid Autosport is $12.50 on PSN right now. I just wish I knew when I could expect GT7...

 

[snowgt]

Which track do you guys think makes for a better testing grounds, Laguna Seca or Suzuka Circuit? For GT7, I only want to do one or the other.

And also for GT7, should I use whatever tires the cars come with, or should I use Comfort Softs for every car? I feel like Mediums won't be enough to be fair for the supercars. In that regard, I agree with @HBR-Roadhog. I want to be as realistic as possible.

Suzuka is the better track for testing, because Laguna only has a very short straight (some would say it has none), so it's not very representative of a car's overall performance.

On the subject of tyres you might like to know that all cars (i.e. "normal" or concept cars) that already were in GT5 had a tyre assigned by the power to weight ratio, so it has nothing to do with what type of tyre the cars originally come with straight from the dealership in reality. That leads to odd differences between almost identical models of the same car, where one has a power/weight ratio just below a certain value and the other just over (one getting CS and one getting SH as default).

The cars that are new in GT6 seem to get tyres assigned by a more random concept (I couldn't see a clear pattern there). Maybe they choose the tyre-type manually now for each model.

My point is, you should use the same tyre compound for all cars, or otherwise some cars get an "unfair" advantage over others.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Suzuka is the better track for testing, because Laguna only has a very short straight (some would say it has none), so it's not very representative of a car's overall performance.

On the subject of tyres you might like to know that all cars (i.e. "normal" or concept cars) that already were in GT5 had a tyre assigned by the power to weight ratio, so it has nothing to do with what type of tyre the cars originally come with straight from the dealership in reality. That leads to odd differences between almost identical models of the same car, where one has a power/weight ratio just below a certain value and the other just over (one getting CS and one getting SH as default).

The cars that are new in GT6 seem to get tyres assigned by a more random concept (I couldn't see a clear pattern there). Maybe they choose the tyre-type manually now for each model.

My point is, you should use the same tyre compound for all cars, or otherwise some cars get an "unfair" advantage over others.

The downside of Suzuka is that a lap is around 50% longer than Laguna. So 200 hours becomes 300 hours of testing for what I would think are very minor gains in performance data. Laguna still has a couple of fairly lengthy flat-out sections.

 

[TexRex]

The downside of Suzuka is that a lap is around 50% longer than Laguna. So 200 hours becomes 300 hours of testing for what I would think are very minor gains in performance data. Laguna still has a couple of fairly lengthy flat-out sections.

Canada uses metric, right? Are you sure it's 50% longer for those that don't?

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

I would have to say Laguna Seca would be the better track for tuning and testing in my opinion. Its the track that I use and I have been able to achieve pretty good results for all my cars there. I do like Suzuka as well, but I just think it is too long if you are going to tune/test a bunch of cars as you are doing, even though you are not doing any actual tuning. I mean, if you personally don't mind the longer laps, then use Suzuka if that's what you are comfortable with. For me though, Laguna offers me everything I need in order to successfully tune/test a car. Plus, its short enough, but not too long, for me to run pretty consistent times on. The only thing I have to adjust for other tracks is the transmission of course and maybe some slight tweaks to the suspension for bumpier tracks but those changes are minor to me and take only a few minutes to adjust. Just some friendly input from a fellow time trailer/tuner.

 

[snowgt]

The downside of Suzuka is that a lap is around 50% longer than Laguna. So 200 hours becomes 300 hours of testing for what I would think are very minor gains in performance data. Laguna still has a couple of fairly lengthy flat-out sections.

Naturally, if you want a decent length straight in it, you have to go all the way back in the other direction somehow, only preferably with corners of all kinds so that it's well balanced. I guess that implies a certain minimum length for a balanced testing circuit.

My current favourite is Ascari, but it's not really shorter than Suzuka.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I'd say the potential for variance due to driver skill/error is greater at Laguna, making it a better test of driver skill, but not maybe as good a test for the car as Suzuka.

Typically with all of my comparative car testing, I'll do it at circuits I know I can be consistent at, and Laguna isn't one of them (I realise others opinions on that may vary).

Also for testing I always use stock tyres, can of worms otherwise.

edit: Also, I run a spreadsheet in which I log all my sector times, it cherry picks the best time in each sector from all the laps in any given car and combines them to give me a theoretical best lap time. I'm doing that at Circuito de la Sierra at the moment in the VGT's and the Theortical best laps are typically coming out about 1-2 seconds faster than my actual lap times (this will get tighter as I run more laps), except for the DP-100, where my actual best lap is about 4 seconds off my theoretical best because I'm struggling to get to grips with the handling of the thing. This method allows me to smooth out the inconsistencies in my own driving from the potential performance of the cars, from one lap to the next - as well as coming up with a reasonable target time to try and beat, rather than Alien times from the internet.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Laguna is a bit more exciting to me because of the uphill section leading to the corkscrew. Feels like a rollercoaster every time. Suzuka by comparison is a bit lifeless, but I still love it.

Since I don't know if or when I'll get to play GT6 again, here's the fastest car I had tested up to this point:

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Randy Pobst just did 1:47.1 in the 2015 Subaru WRX STI.

I did 1:46.6 in the '07 STI on CH tires. I wish I had tested the '10 STI before my blu-ray died.

 

[vr6cas]

Laguna Seca for testing? We all know real men use the Nurburgring for testing.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

I'd say the potential for variance due to driver skill/error is greater at Laguna, making it a better test of driver skill, but not maybe as good a test for the car as Suzuka.

Typically with all of my comparative car testing, I'll do it at circuits I know I can be consistent at, and Laguna isn't one of them (I realise others opinions on that may vary).

Also for testing I always use stock tyres, can of worms otherwise.

edit: Also, I run a spreadsheet in which I log all my sector times, it cherry picks the best time in each sector from all the laps in any given car and combines them to give me a theoretical best lap time. I'm doing that at Circuito de la Sierra at the moment in the VGT's and the Theortical best laps are typically coming out about 1-2 seconds faster than my actual lap times (this will get tighter as I run more laps), except for the DP-100, where my actual best lap is about 4 seconds off my theoretical best because I'm struggling to get to grips with the handling of the thing. This method allows me to smooth out the inconsistencies in my own driving from the potential performance of the cars, from one lap to the next - as well as coming up with a reasonable target time to try and beat, rather than Alien times from the internet.

I'm interested in doing this myself but I'm not very good at working with spreadsheets. If you could pm me the layout you're using and a quick tutorial on how to do this, that would be great and much appreciated. I use Open Office 4.1.1 but like I said, I don't have much experience with it. I'm more of a Photoshop guy.

 

[ManicDan]

Randy Pobst just did 1:47.1 in the 2015 Subaru WRX STI.

I did 1:46.6 in the '07 STI on CH tires. I wish I had tested the '10 STI before my blu-ray died.

he was probably too scared to push it. in autocross we see the new STI kill the old ones, the new ones come with great stock tires too (honestly probably close to CH, not the best summer tires, but not all-seasons either like the prior gen). i bet if you had the 2015 STI, you could get high 1:45s

 

[MidFieldMaven]

My replacement blu-ray laser should be arriving by Monday afternoon.

Anyone have any requests? Preferably under 550 PP?

 

[devildog666]

Most of you know about my lap time database for nearly 650 dealership-stock cars + SH tires at Suzuka Circuit (see 2nd link in my signature.)

I got many complaints that SH tires were too easy, that they were "cheater" tires.

So let's try CH tires this time

All my replays will be uploaded here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaHydDMyRymT4009BD5cH4EJK12wfYbUj

I will edit this post as I upload new cars almost daily.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1:39.895 - 574 - Nissan GT-R Nismo '14

1:40.553 - 535 - Nissan GT-R SpecV '09

1:41.271 - 529 - Nissan GT-R '07

1:42.897 - 541 - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) '06

1:43.681 - 534 - SRT Viper SRT10 Coupe '06

1:44.007 - 526 - Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (C7) '14

1:45.760 - 468 - Honda NSX Type R '02

1:46.481 - 472 - Nissan Skyline GT-R V*Spec II Nur (R34) '02
1:46.487 - 440 - Lotus Elise 111R '04
1:46.602 - 461 - Subaru Impreza WRX STI '07
1:46.690 - 505 - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C5) '04
1:46.877 - 460 - Lotus Evora '09
1:46.951 - 488 - BMW M3 Coupe '07
1:46.955 - 466 - Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02

1:47.716 - 463 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Premium Package '07
1:47.738 - 469 - BMW Z4 M Coupe '08
1:47.831 - 456 - Nissan Skyline GT-R V*Spec II (R32) '94
1:47.959 - 466 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI GSR T.M. Edition '00

1:48.416 - 449 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR '05
1:48.829 - 458 - Nissan Skyline GT-R V*Spec (R33) '97

1:49.497 - 456 - BMW 135i Coupe '07
1:49.655 - 456 - Nissan Fairlady Z Version S (Z33) '07

1:50.065 - 465 - Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track '13
1:50.191 - 429 - Mazda RX-8 Type S '07
1:50.437 - 408 - Lotus Elise '96
1:50.849 - 419 - Honda Integra Type R (DC5) '04

1:51.608 - 434 - Mazda Efini RX-7 Type R (FD) '91
1:51.613 - 433 - Acura NSX '91
1:51.686 - 433 - Nissan Silvia Spec-R Aero (S15) '02
1:51.957 - 423 - Honda S2000 '06

1:52.027 - 406 - Subaru BRZ S '12
1:52.474 - 388 - Lotus Elise '11
1:52.605 - 420 - BMW Z4 '03
1:52.889 - 414 - Honda Civic Type R '08
1:52.889 - 429 - Ford Focus ST '13

1:53.857 - 405 - Volkswagen Golf V GTI '05

1:54.405 - 406 - Mazda RX-7 GT-X (FC) '90
1:54.798 - 391 - Mazda Roadster RS (NC) '07

1:55.969 - 390 - Honda Civic Type R (EK) '97

1:57.709 - 358 - Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) '89

1:58.415 - 373 - Toyota 2000GT '67

1:59.347 - 362 - Volkswagen Golf IV GTI '01

2:04.820 - 339 - Suzuki Cappuccino (EA21R) '95

2:08.887 - 319 - Mazda Autozam AZ-1 '92

Motortrend just did a 1:35.51 in the Nismo gt in real life. Comfort Hard tire are too hard for your test for that car.

 

[Jimmy_Pop]

Which track do you guys think makes for a better testing grounds, Laguna Seca or Suzuka Circuit? For GT7, I only want to do one or the other.

And also for GT7, should I use whatever tires the cars come with, or should I use Comfort Softs for every car? I feel like Mediums won't be enough to be fair for the supercars. In that regard, I agree with @HBR-Roadhog. I want to be as realistic as possible.

I'd say in your case, Suzuka. As far as picking tires, a pp tier is not perfect. Decide for yourself what each tire grade stands for, ie Comfort hards = high mileage passenger tire, and so on. Then decide what that car would have come with. We all know there is flaws in comparing real life laps with the game. Go by how the car feels and behaves.

If its any consolation; your consistency with one tire worked amazingly to compare the cars.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Motortrend just did a 1:35.51 in the Nismo gt in real life. Comfort Hard tire are too hard for your test for that car.

Yes, Comfort Mediums are the most realistic tire choice for the GT-R. Anything higher is not what the car comes with from the factory.

I'd say for 99% of the cars in the game, CM's work best, with only a few really needing CS and even fewer needing SH.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

After a few angry e-mails and a lot of waiting, I finally got confirmation that a new laser is on its way to my front door. I expect it by Wednesday. I'm so ready to get back into this. I miss it so much. The next 3 cars I want to test are:

Audi R8 4.2
BMW M4
Nissan Z34

Let's hope this laser lasts longer than 3 months...if it dies again, I'm giving up and buying the PSN version.

 

[Prototyp3]

Mclaren F1 please