- 1,202
*SPOILER WARNING*
This follows on from Alfaholic's GTWC attempt (follow the link below). If you haven't read that already, I suggest reading it before this report.
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=95249
The true story
I have a confession to make... my GTWC attempt may have appeared to have gone smoothly, but real drama unfolded as I endeavoured to bring this story to the community. What follows is the story of what really happened behind the scenes in my campaign to win the GTWC.
Things were going reasonably smoothly up to the 7th event. My notes were far from comprehensive, and my PC far from the Playstation, so my reporting was prone to the occasional missed detail and incorrect figure, most of which I managed to sort out along the way. The real drama began, however, before I started the 8th race (Suzuka), for that is when my new cockpit was delivered. It's probably no surprise that this was an exciting event for me. This was, after all, the first time I would ever be able to enjoy a computer racing game, in my home, in a proper seat, and with the wheels, pedals, and indeed gearlever, mounted in the right places. Of course, once I had everything plugged in, I just had to try it. Unfortunately, since I had a championship currently in progress, the only available vehicle to drive was the Jag XJR-9. No problem, I thought, I'd just quit the championship, pop into the garage, choose my Boundary Layer - spec Spirra (Nice settings by the way, BL 👍 ) and quite literally go for a spin. Then, later on, I can just restart GT4 and continue with the championship. Right?
Wrong.
Next time I start up, the Spirra's staring at me and there's no "GTWC in progress" messages in sight.
Meanwhile, I've got a half finished championship already published on GTP, a question to myself ("can I win in a Group C car?") still unanswered, and three races of unfinished business eating away at my consciousness. The report HAD to be finished. I could not just own up and say "oops I got bell'd by the save" and leave it at that. What an anticlimax. This simply would not do. I felt that I had a few options allowing me to in part rectify this disaster.
1) Single race the last three events against the original opponents. This would give me results with which to finish the report, but had disadvantages too. Firstly, I wouldn't actually get the championship prize money and car, though I could b-spec it later. Secondly, I couldn't qualify for the events, which meant I'd be breaking with the routine of the first 7 events. Thirdly, for all I know, the AI may well drive differently when there's a championship on the line, or it may not.
2) Enter the championship against the same opponents, skip the first 7 races and just drive the last three. This would allow me to qualify, and it would also mean that the Jag was on the correct mileage, which was I think around the 700 mile mark. Thirdly, it would get me back in the driving seat reasonably quickly. This though would mean I'd still have to b-spec the championship later to get the money and car (if I won in the first place, of course). Also, again, if the AI behaves differently in the championship, it might not fight me very hard as I would have got 0 points in the first 7 events and would therefore not be seen as a contender.
3) enter the championship against the same opponents, b-spec the first 7 races to at least make me competitive in the championship when I got to the final three. This seemed the only way to be sure that the AI might treat me as something of a championship threat, in the unlikely event that it reacts to such things. Also, if Bob did well, I might even be in a position to win the championship anyway without having to rerun it, so I can get my prizes with minimal effort. On the negative side, it would take me longer to get back to where I had been, and once I got there, the Jag's mileage would be well in to refresh territory and this would be bad on the handling.
I chose option 3.
I got to the correct lineup, and then, to improve my chances of being in a championship contesting position on race 8, I qualified every event before b-speccing it to make sure Bob started on pole. The first three events yielded two 3rd places and a 5th (Super Speedway... I should have remembered that Bob just can't drive there without falling over), so at Seoul I drove the first half to help get a win under our belts. I tried a similar thing at New York. I drove the first stint to give Bob a good winning margin before his stop, but then I spun on my pit lap and threw away most of my lead, forcing me to drive the full distance to secure the win... overall, we did quite well. Bob even managed to win at Opera with a more convincing margin than I had managed in my attempt
This got us to race 8 with a good hunt in the championship, and with the C60 as closest rival. I then raced at Suzuka and Grand Valley exactly as described in the original report, and thus found myself in the final race of the championship, at De La Sarthe, battling the C60 for the title, just as it should be.
Well, almost as it should be. In the original championship, at this point, I would have had a 10 point lead and as long as I raced I couldn't lose. In this particular championship run, the C60 and I entered the final event both on 66 points. This meant that this was a straight single race fight for the title. Whichever of us finished in front of the other would win overall
Thus I had a conflict of interests. Do I drive this event to win the original championship in spirit, or do I drive it to win the championship I am actually contesting, in which it is vital that I finish ahead of the C60 in order to collect the prize? I chose the latter, and this decision set the stage for a nail biting final race. Here is the story.
The true story behind the final race at De La Sarthe
Up to lap 3, everything was exactly as documented in the original story. I did overtake the BMW down the Mulsanne straight as described, putting me in third place behind the other XJR-9 (a distant 1st) and the PlayStation Pescarolo C60. In the original championship, I'd have settled down at this point and accepted 3rd place. I'd have looked after the tyres and nursed the car to the finish, as the handling was getting decidedly twitchy, probably due to the mileage. Unfortunately this would make me finish behind the C60, losing the championship I was actually contesting. So I gave chase.
All the action took place on lap 4. I started the lap a bit behind but in sight of the C60. I was still a bit behind when we reached the tight left / right chicane near the start of the lap, before the Dunlop bridge. I tried an overly ambitious overtaking attempt from miles back, we touched, and we both ended up in the sandtrap. I didn't actually spin, and managed to get back on the circuit in front of the C60
. The BMW overtook the both of us at this time, so I was still in third, but the cars in front and behind me had swapped places 
. I was now in front of the C60 so I really wasn't worried about the BM. The C60 was pretty close though so the pressure was on for the rest of the lap 
I can't remember if I overtook the BM again on the Mulsanne (I made no note of the pass so I probably didn't) but I do know that my Sarthe gremlin* picked a particularly uncooperative moment to say hello, and this dropped me back down to 4th, in sight of the BMW and C60. 🤬 
I got back past the C60 and the BMW on the next straight, and then struggled to stay ahead through the next few bends. The replay showed the BMW driver actually drifting around one particular bend right behind me as he lifted off to avoid contact . His rear tyres must have been in bad shape! I was always slower through this section than the other cars and the BMW eventually bumped his way past, nearly dumping me in the sandtrap and losing my championship for me in the process At this point I saw red. The C60 was a little way behind, and the BMW was just about within attacking distance as we entered the very last chicane before the start / finish straight, and I dove at the gap with intent to bury the BMW in the trap . In this I succeeded grandly, as the BMW almost lost 4th place to the distant Toyota while trying to find his way back to the tarmac, but unfortunately I followed him in The C60 at this point was just braking for the same chicane and setting himself up to negotiate the bend on the normal line.
I was still pointing roughly at the start / finish line so I just buried the throttle and drove straight across the sand trap. Fortunately, I still had some momentum on my side and I made it back onto tarmac before the C60 emerged from the corner exit. I could see him in my rear view mirror and could see that, though I was ahead, he was going faster than me, and might catch me before the finish line
so I aimed slightly to the left to cut him off 
. I crossed the finish line on the hard shoulder to the left of the actual track, about a car's length ahead of the Pescarolo, securing 2nd place, two championships, and an hour or so of free time in the afternoon which would otherwise have been spent b-speccing the whole thing again.
all this effort to avoid babysitting Bob for ten races...
Pictures will follow at a later time.
* Sarthe gremlin - defn. An apparently random onset of instability experienced when braking around the kink near the very end of the Mulsanne straight just before the tight right hand corner. Always starts with an instant spin and ends with an almighty impact in the tyre barrier, about as far away from the De La Sarthe track as its possible to get without actually visiting another circuit, on the wrong side of a fairly large sand trap, and occasionally facing the wrong way. Seems to be unrelated to the car I am driving, the speed I am going, the commitment with which I attack the braking zone, or my actual braking point and line.
This follows on from Alfaholic's GTWC attempt (follow the link below). If you haven't read that already, I suggest reading it before this report.
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=95249
The true story
I have a confession to make... my GTWC attempt may have appeared to have gone smoothly, but real drama unfolded as I endeavoured to bring this story to the community. What follows is the story of what really happened behind the scenes in my campaign to win the GTWC.
Things were going reasonably smoothly up to the 7th event. My notes were far from comprehensive, and my PC far from the Playstation, so my reporting was prone to the occasional missed detail and incorrect figure, most of which I managed to sort out along the way. The real drama began, however, before I started the 8th race (Suzuka), for that is when my new cockpit was delivered. It's probably no surprise that this was an exciting event for me. This was, after all, the first time I would ever be able to enjoy a computer racing game, in my home, in a proper seat, and with the wheels, pedals, and indeed gearlever, mounted in the right places. Of course, once I had everything plugged in, I just had to try it. Unfortunately, since I had a championship currently in progress, the only available vehicle to drive was the Jag XJR-9. No problem, I thought, I'd just quit the championship, pop into the garage, choose my Boundary Layer - spec Spirra (Nice settings by the way, BL 👍 ) and quite literally go for a spin. Then, later on, I can just restart GT4 and continue with the championship. Right?
Wrong.
Next time I start up, the Spirra's staring at me and there's no "GTWC in progress" messages in sight.
Meanwhile, I've got a half finished championship already published on GTP, a question to myself ("can I win in a Group C car?") still unanswered, and three races of unfinished business eating away at my consciousness. The report HAD to be finished. I could not just own up and say "oops I got bell'd by the save" and leave it at that. What an anticlimax. This simply would not do. I felt that I had a few options allowing me to in part rectify this disaster.1) Single race the last three events against the original opponents. This would give me results with which to finish the report, but had disadvantages too. Firstly, I wouldn't actually get the championship prize money and car, though I could b-spec it later. Secondly, I couldn't qualify for the events, which meant I'd be breaking with the routine of the first 7 events. Thirdly, for all I know, the AI may well drive differently when there's a championship on the line, or it may not.
2) Enter the championship against the same opponents, skip the first 7 races and just drive the last three. This would allow me to qualify, and it would also mean that the Jag was on the correct mileage, which was I think around the 700 mile mark. Thirdly, it would get me back in the driving seat reasonably quickly. This though would mean I'd still have to b-spec the championship later to get the money and car (if I won in the first place, of course). Also, again, if the AI behaves differently in the championship, it might not fight me very hard as I would have got 0 points in the first 7 events and would therefore not be seen as a contender.
3) enter the championship against the same opponents, b-spec the first 7 races to at least make me competitive in the championship when I got to the final three. This seemed the only way to be sure that the AI might treat me as something of a championship threat, in the unlikely event that it reacts to such things. Also, if Bob did well, I might even be in a position to win the championship anyway without having to rerun it, so I can get my prizes with minimal effort. On the negative side, it would take me longer to get back to where I had been, and once I got there, the Jag's mileage would be well in to refresh territory and this would be bad on the handling.
I chose option 3.
I got to the correct lineup, and then, to improve my chances of being in a championship contesting position on race 8, I qualified every event before b-speccing it to make sure Bob started on pole. The first three events yielded two 3rd places and a 5th (Super Speedway... I should have remembered that Bob just can't drive there without falling over), so at Seoul I drove the first half to help get a win under our belts. I tried a similar thing at New York. I drove the first stint to give Bob a good winning margin before his stop, but then I spun on my pit lap and threw away most of my lead, forcing me to drive the full distance to secure the win... overall, we did quite well. Bob even managed to win at Opera with a more convincing margin than I had managed in my attempt
This got us to race 8 with a good hunt in the championship, and with the C60 as closest rival. I then raced at Suzuka and Grand Valley exactly as described in the original report, and thus found myself in the final race of the championship, at De La Sarthe, battling the C60 for the title, just as it should be.
Well, almost as it should be. In the original championship, at this point, I would have had a 10 point lead and as long as I raced I couldn't lose. In this particular championship run, the C60 and I entered the final event both on 66 points. This meant that this was a straight single race fight for the title. Whichever of us finished in front of the other would win overall
Thus I had a conflict of interests. Do I drive this event to win the original championship in spirit, or do I drive it to win the championship I am actually contesting, in which it is vital that I finish ahead of the C60 in order to collect the prize? I chose the latter, and this decision set the stage for a nail biting final race. Here is the story.
The true story behind the final race at De La Sarthe
Up to lap 3, everything was exactly as documented in the original story. I did overtake the BMW down the Mulsanne straight as described, putting me in third place behind the other XJR-9 (a distant 1st) and the PlayStation Pescarolo C60. In the original championship, I'd have settled down at this point and accepted 3rd place. I'd have looked after the tyres and nursed the car to the finish, as the handling was getting decidedly twitchy, probably due to the mileage. Unfortunately this would make me finish behind the C60, losing the championship I was actually contesting. So I gave chase.
All the action took place on lap 4. I started the lap a bit behind but in sight of the C60. I was still a bit behind when we reached the tight left / right chicane near the start of the lap, before the Dunlop bridge. I tried an overly ambitious overtaking attempt from miles back, we touched, and we both ended up in the sandtrap. I didn't actually spin, and managed to get back on the circuit in front of the C60
. The BMW overtook the both of us at this time, so I was still in third, but the cars in front and behind me had swapped places . I was now in front of the C60 so I really wasn't worried about the BM. The C60 was pretty close though so the pressure was on for the rest of the lap I can't remember if I overtook the BM again on the Mulsanne (I made no note of the pass so I probably didn't) but I do know that my Sarthe gremlin* picked a particularly uncooperative moment to say hello, and this dropped me back down to 4th, in sight of the BMW and C60.
🤬 I got back past the C60 and the BMW on the next straight, and then struggled to stay ahead through the next few bends. The replay showed the BMW driver actually drifting around one particular bend right behind me as he lifted off to avoid contact . His rear tyres must have been in bad shape! I was always slower through this section than the other cars and the BMW eventually bumped his way past, nearly dumping me in the sandtrap and losing my championship for me in the process At this point I saw red. The C60 was a little way behind, and the BMW was just about within attacking distance as we entered the very last chicane before the start / finish straight, and I dove at the gap with intent to bury the BMW in the trap . In this I succeeded grandly, as the BMW almost lost 4th place to the distant Toyota while trying to find his way back to the tarmac, but unfortunately I followed him in The C60 at this point was just braking for the same chicane and setting himself up to negotiate the bend on the normal line. I was still pointing roughly at the start / finish line so I just buried the throttle and drove straight across the sand trap. Fortunately, I still had some momentum on my side and I made it back onto tarmac before the C60 emerged from the corner exit. I could see him in my rear view mirror and could see that, though I was ahead, he was going faster than me, and might catch me before the finish line
so I aimed slightly to the left to cut him off . I crossed the finish line on the hard shoulder to the left of the actual track, about a car's length ahead of the Pescarolo, securing 2nd place, two championships, and an hour or so of free time in the afternoon which would otherwise have been spent b-speccing the whole thing again. all this effort to avoid babysitting Bob for ten races...
Pictures will follow at a later time.
* Sarthe gremlin - defn. An apparently random onset of instability experienced when braking around the kink near the very end of the Mulsanne straight just before the tight right hand corner. Always starts with an instant spin and ends with an almighty impact in the tyre barrier, about as far away from the De La Sarthe track as its possible to get without actually visiting another circuit, on the wrong side of a fairly large sand trap, and occasionally facing the wrong way. Seems to be unrelated to the car I am driving, the speed I am going, the commitment with which I attack the braking zone, or my actual braking point and line.
