My obsession with the Nordschleife.

[Lambob]

I and many online racing buddies have been on the Nordchleife exclusively, daily for some, at 500~550pp, since GT5 game out.

I took a long break in the last year prior GT6, and when I got back to the track, the feeling of never forgetting like riding a bicycle, immediately set in.

now appreciating the fact that GT6 allows you to be competitive (for lightning times) on this track, with Sport MED tires, instead of only Racing Softs.

 

[IBZ6L20VT]

Where did you fall off man?

Have fun! Remember its real life lol.

I would be so cautious on my first visit, I would probably be slower than some people with no experience.

I doubt I will ever be able to run a proper hot lap there in real life. Visit and lap a few times yes, but the cost alone would stop me every getting enough real world experience there to run a genuine hot lap.

A lottery win would see me with a second home in the nearby country side. In the infield preferably!

Enjoying the ring is not a matter of money. Of course you cannot enter and drive like in the game. Maybe you know every corner but you share the circuit with others, and the rest of the drivers have their own skills, so respect must reign. Anyway, the only experience of being there is enough to put a long lasting smile in your face.

 

[ChrisH]

I, too have an obsession with the Nordschleife.

I was stoked when GT4 came out, and since then, it's been my "test" circuit that I drive all my tuned cars on. It just has such a wide variety of corners, straights, and elevation changes that just make it both a joy to drive and a great shakedown track for getting to know certain cars.

Whenever I haven't played GT for a while, I sit down and do a couple laps of the 'ring in a C6 Z06 ... bone stock with sports hards.

 

[Ryanswannell]

I hated it in GT4 because I was young and thought it was too long. But since GT5 I have fallen in love with it and I love driving on it whether it's in a small hot hatch or the Huayra 👍

 

[FussyFez]

This feels like a Nordschleifers anonymous meeting.

 

[Swagger897]

My favorite track is Le Mans (via time keeper to the left..). The first time I saw it, I hated it. With a passion. I never could take Tet, Indy, Porsche, and ford correctly. Average lap times in Gt5 with a 954 hp R10 were around 3:40's. Now I hit 3:27's with an R18 at 540 but I'm still not done yet. I carried over my entrance into Porsche from GT 5 to 6, by entering from the right hand lane, rather than the left drivers lane. I still hit the bumps at Ford, and sweep 5 feet out at Tet. Indy I think I've mastered (in the dry) but that's only a third of it.

At night when I first started, I could only dream of getting a sub 4 minute lap. Now I still get 3:27's like at daytime. I'm working constantly on that track. In GT5, I had a total of 15,000 miles on that track alone, buying cars specifically for it. Now I'm approaching almost 5,000 miles in my R18. I never would've gotten GT6 without it, and I can't wait to try it with the e-Tron. I'll never be 3:19 Peugeot good, but I'll be close enough to the best regulated drivers on that track..

 

[Ryk]

Great track but for a good race you need to have a group of drivers who are clean and about the same level of skill.

I like the track - but it isn't my favourite. You need a fast car and/or bad tyres to get the most pucker factor out of the high speed/narrow stuff.

I used a Vertigo for my GT5 Nurby 24 hour race... In the wet. Very good fun!

I remember in GT4 running the track as a "Chill out" just at one with the track. A blur of apex after apex.

Would love to have a Retro Ring with hedges and trees trackside and no colourful apex curbs - maybe a few colourful bridges in checkerboard black and white.

 

[VEXD]

Hi Fuzzyfez.
My name is VEXD and I have a nurburgring obsession.
In 2008 I went to the Netherlands to race in an international GT4 LAN that some GTP'ers organised.
I tied this in with a short hop down to the ring and had a few laps in my civic.
GO!
That's the first thing I'll say.
It's not that far away.
You can actually do a ring trip for about £500 if you plan ahead.
That's everything, including fuel and food and somewhere to sleep.
You just need to lay it all out carefully and then pick a good date.
Before you go, consider your insurance situation, then take someone to share the experience with and get photos before you come back.
But most importantly, stop putting it off.
Save up.
Before I went, I used two different sites to find out everything I needed to know.
The two I list at the bottom of this post are two of the best resources on the web for us Brits.
There is something about just being there that other people have mentioned in this thread that makes it all worthwhile in the first place. Whether you have a fast lap or pootle round, it doesn't matter.
While you're in the company of people who are just as obsessed with the ring as us guys are, it all starts to make sense.
And those people are everywhere in the carpark, in the cafe, in the petrol station on the highway near the entrance, in the pistenklause restaurant, everywhere.
You just join them, start grinning like they are and instantly fit right in.
That's what happens.
GO!
Ok that's enough rambling.
I will add that the only thing GT can never prepare you for is the gradients.
You'll never expect Hatzenbach to be as steep as it is.
You'll wonder how people drive up ex-muhle, let alone cycle sometimes, and you'll probably not get much more than 100mph out of your civic as you climb towards angstkurve, but you will grin inanely for the next 6 months, so organise it, and get some cover, and when you've done your lap, get your sticker, then come home and share the story with us here at the planet.
I'll read that thread too.

Here's some very very good stuff:

Www.nurburgring.org.uk

And here's some very very helpful people who go there almost every weekend:

Www.northloop.co.uk


Please tell us all about it when you get back.

Cool.

👍

 

[FussyFez]

Hi Fuzzyfez.
My name is VEXD and I have a nurburgring obsession.
In 2008 I went to the Netherlands to race in an international GT4 LAN that some GTP'ers organised.
I tied this in with a short hop down to the ring and had a few laps in my civic.
GO!
That's the first thing I'll say.
It's not that far away.
You can actually do a ring trip for about £500 if you plan ahead.
That's everything, including fuel and food and somewhere to sleep.
You just need to lay it all out carefully and then pick a good date.
Before you go, consider your insurance situation, then take someone to share the experience with and get photos before you come back.
But most importantly, stop putting it off.
Save up.
Before I went, I used two different sites to find out everything I needed to know.
The two I list at the bottom of this post are two of the best resources on the web for us Brits.
There is something about just being there that other people have mentioned in this thread that makes it all worthwhile in the first place. Whether you have a fast lap or pootle round, it doesn't matter.
While you're in the company of people who are just as obsessed with the ring as us guys are, it all starts to make sense.
And those people are everywhere in the carpark, in the cafe, in the petrol station on the highway near the entrance, in the pistenklause restaurant, everywhere.
You just join them, start grinning like they are and instantly fit right in.
That's what happens.
GO!
Ok that's enough rambling.
I will add that the only thing GT can never prepare you for is the gradients.
You'll never expect Hatzenbach to be as steep as it is.
You'll wonder how people drive up ex-muhle, let alone cycle sometimes, and you'll probably not get much more than 100mph out of your civic as you climb towards angstkurve, but you will grin inanely for the next 6 months, so organise it, and get some cover, and when you've done your lap, get your sticker, then come home and share the story with us here at the planet.
I'll read that thread too.

Here's some very very good stuff:

Www.nurburgring.org.uk

And here's some very very helpful people who go there almost every weekend:

Www.northloop.co.uk


Please tell us all about it when you get back.

Cool.

👍

You, sir, have made my day.

I don't think my Mrs will be too pleased in the morning when I tell her the family holiday next year is to the German country side.

Your completely right though, I need to just get on with it and bite the bullet.

I understand what your saying about the gradients and elevation changes, I would be anticipating that, without a doubt.

You've got me all excited now and I'm supposed to be going to bed.

Must not turn on the ps3!


Ill have you to thank this time next year when my civic is wearing it's sticker with pride! (or in a german scrappy!)

Let the planning begin.

 

[ChrisH]

You guys are lucky ... I'm not even on the same side of the globe

 

[Blank_Redge]

Nordschleife was my absolute nemesis for the longest time.

In GT5, there was the trophy for running the Nordschleife in the GT-R. I was BOUND and DETERMINED to get that trophy.

I'd run the Nordschleife, give up on it, then revisit it again months on down the line. FINALLY, I got my one good run in, and got the trophy!

From there, I thought, 'Hm. I wonder if I can improve on that some more?...'

Since then, Nurburgring has become one of my favorite tracks, if not THE favorite. Seems there's always room to improve, and always something to learn.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

My favorite track is Le Mans (via time keeper to the left..). The first time I saw it, I hated it. With a passion. I never could take Tet, Indy, Porsche, and ford correctly. Average lap times in Gt5 with a 954 hp R10 were around 3:40's. Now I hit 3:27's with an R18 at 540 but I'm still not done yet. I carried over my entrance into Porsche from GT 5 to 6, by entering from the right hand lane, rather than the left drivers lane. I still hit the bumps at Ford, and sweep 5 feet out at Tet. Indy I think I've mastered (in the dry) but that's only a third of it.

At night when I first started, I could only dream of getting a sub 4 minute lap. Now I still get 3:27's like at daytime. I'm working constantly on that track. In GT5, I had a total of 15,000 miles on that track alone, buying cars specifically for it. Now I'm approaching almost 5,000 miles in my R18. I never would've gotten GT6 without it, and I can't wait to try it with the e-Tron. I'll never be 3:19 Peugeot good, but I'll be close enough to the best regulated drivers on that track..

We are both sick of the same disease: Le Mans. I love Indy, but it's the most difficult bit of the circuit for me.

But in my case, 908 all the time. My best lap ever is 3min20.823, in GT6.


Back to topic:

I think that I hate Nordschleife because it's very hard to get a perfect lap there. Sometimes, you could do a set of a very clean ones, but to be clean, you have to do some compromises here and there, and in a 23 km track, this means lots of seconds down.

I hate this.

 

[dimassa19]

I'm with James May on this. I hate Nurburgring.

Wowbagger, you must to learn this track, trust me...

 

[wowbaggerBR]

Wowbagger, you must to learn this track, trust me...

Life is too short.

 

[Swagger897]

We are both sick of the same disease: Le Mans. I love Indy, but it's the most difficult bit of the circuit for me.

But in my case, 908 all the time. My best lap ever is 3min20.823, in GT6.


Back to topic:

I think that I hate Nordschleife because it's very hard to get a perfect lap there. Sometimes, you could do a set of a very clean ones, but to be clean, you have to do some compromises here and there, and in a 23 km track, this means lots of seconds down.

I hate this.

Was the 908 fully upgraded or left stock? Most of the LMP's (most) are as close as they can get to their RL counterparts when left stock. My best was a 3:26 in GT5 but with a full power R10..

The hardest part of the track for me however is Corvette corner. I think it's ridiculous that PD only added the Michelin time board, the Audi deck, and a few other buildings but didnt add the astroturf for that turn. It definitely needs to be widened out too, as there is no a 10 foot space from concrete wall to the white line..

Arnage for some reason changed on me. The braking point seems to be moved forward, yet I cant stop my car there all the times even on full RM tires...

 

[wowbaggerBR]

Was the 908 fully upgraded or left stock? Most of the LMP's (most) are as close as they can get to their RL counterparts when left stock. My best was a 3:26 in GT5 but with a full power R10..

The hardest part of the track for me however is Corvette corner. I think it's ridiculous that PD only added the Michelin time board, the Audi deck, and a few other buildings but didnt add the astroturf for that turn. It definitely needs to be widened out too, as there is no a 10 foot space from concrete wall to the white line..

Arnage for some reason changed on me. The braking point seems to be moved forward, yet I cant stop my car there all the times even on full RM tires...

Full stock. With 1000+ BHP, I did a 3min10 lap in GT6.

I think that in Arnage they get the slippery surface right this time. I did notice some skidding on the apex and in the acceleration on GT6.

This makes me want GT7 so bad.

 

[dimassa19]

Life is too short.

Wowbagger, for a race driver, Nurburgring is a Duty.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

Wowbagger, for a race driver, Nurburgring is a Duty.

No, for a petrolhead, ok, maybe.

Nordschleife hosts just one professional racing event a year, right?

 

[sumbrownkid]

One hundred miles? Try 2,600.

The only reason I'm not accumulating more is because I let my brother borrow my PS3 for the week.

 

[dimassa19]

No, for a petrolhead, ok, maybe.

Nordschleife hosts just one professional racing event a year, right?

24h and the VLN, that i know...

 

[Thematic]

In Gran Turismo 4 which had restrictions, I didn't do many laps on the Ring. Some interesting races no doubt would have changed that. But Tourist Trophy gave me the first little spark, I enjoyed a 10+ min. "ride" with a BMW on the premise of "don't take any unnecessary risks", and more wild laps with other machines.

GT5 lifted the restrictions, but the online races gave me the incentive to learn merely the layout. I'm not fast, I did a few sub 7 min. laps in a 550 PP road car (own tune). In GT6 I'm actually 20 seconds slower still.

 

[Zenmervolt]

He wasn't as happy to hear that just yesterday I did a 8:4x.xxx in a standard CR-X on comfort soft.

That little CR-X is a ridiculous amount of fun. Light and very tossable; just enough lift-throttle oversteer to get the car to rotate and not understeer too much. Can't help but love it.

I may be alone on this, but I really think the Nurburgring is even more fun with the lower-power cars; more time to enjoy getting a corner just right. Either way, it's my favorite track in the game for just driving. Spa has Eau Rouge, which is great, and I will forever adore Monza's Ascari corner (and Monza as a whole; it's my favorite power circuit), but the 'Ring just has a bit of everything.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Is there a GT-R trophy or some other trophy for the 'Ring this time around

 

[Squanto]

I love Nordschleife too ... It's solid on No.1 ... but also Matterhorn for its blind corners ...

Also curious about that new Spanish route ....

@Johnnypenso : the trophy list is horribly easy in GT6 ... no challenges at all.

@wowbaggerBR : try to gold the AMG Special Events in GT5 ...

 

[Stotty]

I spend the vast majority of my GT6 time at the ‘Ring lapping standard cars… other than running the Seasonal TT’s , I spent most of my GT5 time there, and in GT4 I spent 100’s of hours improving my S16 license test time in the 190 by fractions of a second. I love the place and continue to find new lines and areas to improve every time I go there.

I’ve never considered it a good race track compared to Spa or Suzuka, but it’s an awesome TT track.

Anyone who’s interested in lap times should run some cars for @mike_gt3 competition here…

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gt6-nürburgring-lap-time-board.294583/

And here’s something posted on Pistonheads earlier this week that I think anyone who's interested in the Nurburgring will enjoy…

You want to lap the Nurburgring in less than 10 minutes. What car do you choose to give yourself a challenge and keep things interesting? A 52hp, 1.4-litre diesel Citroen AX, of course...

Now, an AX GT or GTI we could understand, but a naturally aspirated diesel? Surely not.

It seems one Youtube user was determined to break the 10-minute barrier though - and finally, after seven years, 118 laps, nine engines and five gearboxes, at 8:37am on August 17 2013, said AX enthusiast nailed his goal with a 9min 55sec Bridge to Gantry lap.

Apart from some sticky Yokohama AO48s, a small increase in fuel pressure, a strut bar (apparently because of the "mileage of the body") and an aluminium intake from the top-spec 1.5D engine to avoid said turret brace, the AX was mechanically stock.

Even with fully independent suspension at the rear and tipping the scales at just 720kg - thanks to a completely stripped out interior - it's quite an achievement. From the montage at the end of the video it seems driver and AX built up quite a bond, with the owner even sleeping in it in his quest to bag "the perfect lap."

And the video of the lap…

 

[Gentoo64]

I've got probably at least a thousand driving hours on Nordschleife from Forza 2, I know the track like the back of my hand. Then I went to GT6 and it's similar, but I find a couple of corners harder, especially where the road is a lot lot bumpier and uneven on GT6, and the lighting is a lot different, which makes 1 particular corner hard I don't know the name of it- the one at around the end of 2 minute - 3 minute mark ish in 500 ish PP cars where you're going down and you have to brake after a gentle sweeping right to a tight right leading onto a long straight slowly sweeping left- that corner lol it's much harder to judge in GT6.

 

[Squanto]

I've got probably at least a thousand driving hours on Nordschleife from Forza 2, I know the track like the back of my hand. Then I went to GT6 and it's similar, but I find a couple of corners harder, especially where the road is a lot lot bumpier and uneven on GT6, and the lighting is a lot different, which makes 1 particular corner hard I don't know the name of it- the one at around the end of 2 minute - 3 minute mark ish in 500 ish PP cars where you're going down and you have to brake after a gentle sweeping right to a tight right leading onto a long straight slowly sweeping left- that corner lol it's much harder to judge in GT6.

Go back to GT5 ... Special events AMG ... find the name .. ...

 

[mike_gt3]

I am guilty too.

about 120000km on the ring in GT5, not sure on GT6 but the majority of my driving is still on the ring.

Thx @Stotty for the advertising!

 

[VBR]

I have 1,300 odd miles & counting on the 24 hour layout, & over 800 of them miles were done in my KTM X-Bow Street alone (Comfort Soft, all aids off). This has been my favourite since GT4, & now with the longer layouts my go to track for testing & just driving for fun.

Awesome!

 

[P1NT]

After a Google search brought me to this page and reading through, I had to sign up.
Great to see the love for the Nordschleife!
I too keep wanting to do one more lap on GT6, constantly learning the track/road.
Massive respect to the Ax diesel driver!
I've been out there just the once and must say what an incredible place.