Racers Reunited: GT Career Mode Challenge

[IfAndOr]

You'll need your favourite Gr.4 car

Not sure I've got a favourite at the moment but I've got 16 to have a go at. So 👍

Went back and took a few shots of the classics.

 

[homeforsummer]

Oh, I wouldn't necessarily worry about that...

So they're either getting more power or you're nerfing anything that isn't a 650S

I quite like the Alfa 4C too but McLaren was the manufacturer I signed up for this year. Not that I've done a single proper FIA race in the 650S. It's just good to drive, and ultra-friendly on the limit - comes back from a slide quite nicely which makes it harder to mess up in online stuff.

 

[Famine]

So they're either getting more power or you're nerfing anything that isn't a 650S

Oh it's going to be so much worse than that. I'll also be nerfing you (and @Sparkz_360) and buffing some other drivers...


If everyone's amenable, what I'd like to do is two identical Gr.4 races at Dragon Trail Gardens:

* Dragon Trail Gardens; Gr.4; RM/RS tyres; Fuel x5, Tyre x11, damage on, penalties on; 10' qualifying (Race 1: 2030), plus Rolling Start

But with two completely different sets of cars - so no car used twice across both events. There's 26 of them (27 including the Bugatti), so it shouldn't be a problem But it means everyone picking their two cars ahead of time:

@buybon355 - Absent & Without Leave
@daan - Mazda Atenza & Porsche Cayman
@homeforsummer - McLaren 650S & Alfa 4C
@IfAndOr - Dodge Viper & Megane Trophy
@Sparkz_360 - Toyota GT86 & BMW M4
@Venari - Ford Mustang & Aston Martin Vantage
@Zolon32 - ? & ?
@Sutsagrd - Mercedes-Benz SLS & Hyundai Genesis

Don't worry about what's usually fast or slow, or tyre melty, because that won't apply any more Qualifying is likely not to be particularly even or representative, but I'd like to do it just to check.

As I know what I've done to the cars, it's not fair* for me to pick my own, so I'll stick a poll up with the remaining vehicles once everyone has chosen and you can pick mine for me. I can post the cars' massaged figures beforehand if you'd like to make your choices with those (and a road test) in mind, but be aware that you'll also have your own personal nerf/buff to add to it...

Also, while FIA is srsbzns, we'll stick to the usual RR funbutfair. The penalties are only on so I can see if they have much effect (and they'll bleed off pretty quick because we don't have the penalty zones yet), and if they suck we'll turn them off for race 2.

*Fairness is a point of this exercise; that and writing an article about it. If it all sucks, blame Excel.

 

[buybon355]

I'll be away from home next week so will need to miss this . Missed the goodwood thing too, looked great.

 

[homeforsummer]

Well unless someone else wants to use it I'll make my second car the Alfa 4C then. If not, I'm easy - I can't remember what other cars I have right now (the GT86 and Subaru maybe?) but otherwise I'll pick whatever is left.

 

[daan]

Can I have the Cayman?

 

[IfAndOr]

The Dodge Viper seems the one so far. It has a bonnet view that is actually very nearly a bonnet view. Still more to test for any second choice.

Edit: And the Renault Sport Megane Trophy '11.

I quite like Dragon Trail Gardens reverse too. It feels the same but different!

 

[Sutsagrd]

I’m hoping to be there Tuesday . Hope that’s ok?

Mercedes SLS AMG Gr.4
Hyundai Genesis Gr.4

If I'm late then someone else can use these cars if they wish.

 

[Sparkz_360]

86 & M4

 

[Venari]

Mustang and Aston.

 

[Famine]

Guh, I've not had chance to finish my testing fully, so this may end up being suck (and PD has changed its tactics on me). It's very dirty but these are the specs for the cars chosen:


Alfa 4C - 100 Power/111 Weight
Aston Martin Vantage - 100 Power/105 Weight
BMW M4 - 100 Power/106 Weight
Dodge Viper - 97 Power/107 Weight
Ford Mustang - 103 Power/103 Weight
Hyundai Genesis - 105 Power/101 Weight
McLaren 650S - 96 Power/109 Weight
Mazda Atenza - 105 Power/99 Weight
Mercedes-Benz SLS - 101 Power/103 Weight
Porsche Cayman - 97 Power/109 Weight
Renaultsport Megane Trophy - 88 Power/116 Weight
Toyota GT86 - 98 Power/103 Weight


The cars not yet picked are:
Audi TT Cup -105/97
Bugatti Veyron - 104/98
Chevrolet Corvette - 96/109
Citroen GT - 95/110
Ferrari 458 - 101/104
Honda NSX - 97/107
Jaguar F-Type -102/105
Lamborghini Huracan - 99/101
Lexus RC F - 101/102
Mitsubishi Evo - 101/99
Nissan GT-R - 99/103
Peugeot RCZ - 111/97
Renaultsport Megane - 102/99
Subaru WRX - 101/101
Volkswagen Scirocco - 94/100

Each of those will have 1% less power if @Zolon32 picks it I don't mind which I get after that, but we've got MR, FR and F4 in there, so I'd like to have FF and M4 too - which means TT/RCZ/Megane/Scirocco and Veyron/Huracan.

 

[Venari]

Mustang on Race Hards:

Autopolis - 1m54.high at BOP (104/105, or something like that) and I still can't stand the track, but I'm improving and it's not terrible in the Gr4.
DTG - 1m38.low @103/103 and I like the track lots and lots in just about anything.

If you want us in more MR/FF cars, I like the Fezza and the 'Rocco.

 

[Famine]

Mustang on Race Hards:

Autopolis - 1m54.high at BOP (104/105, or something like that) and I still can't stand the track, but I'm improving and it's not terrible in the Gr4.
DTG - 1m38.low @103/103 and I like the track lots and lots in just about anything.

That's encouraging, because that's roughly how fast I thought it needed to be...

 

[Venari]

Ahhhh, race medium/race soft tyres.... well...

On Race hards, Ford, Aston and Fezza were all within half a second of each other at DTG for me driving between five and ten laps of each, all with your suggested powers&weights.

 

[Famine]

Ahhhh, race medium/race soft tyres.... well...

On Race hards, Ford, Aston and Fezza were all within half a second of each other at DTG for me driving between five and ten laps of each, all with your suggested powers&weights.

Tyre wear is going to be the interesting one. I have tried to make it so that it's possible to one-stop all the cars on Race Mediums but those cars that might not be able to are quicker to account for it. Hence why qualifying might be a bit wonky - but those three cars are not in the at-risk class.

I've also tried to BOP the drivers, so that'll be a laugh.

 

[daan]

My first race in the Atenza was completely unremarkable. The front right tyre wear was a bit over the top while the rears were barely used.

When I got into the Cayman, it was on softs, and I did a couple of laps on them and decided to change to mediums, just as @Famine started the race... Kept up with the group in front, but the tyres went off quicker than I expected and pitted at the end of lap 5. The tyres lasted better for the next 6 laps probably because I was running on my own and could pick my lines. @Venari came out from his stop a couple of seconds back and I expected him to reel me in, but he never got closer than a second and a bit.

I think I would have preferred to be on the mediums but it would probably have been a stretch to do no stop on them. Fuel was fine for the 11 laps so didn't need to refuel at the stop.

 

[Famine]

My first race in the Atenza was completely unremarkable. The front right tyre wear was a bit over the top while the rears were barely used.

Same as it ever was I'm contemplating a switch to McLaren for Manufacturers now.


So anyway, the attempted purpose of last night was to test out a new Gr.4 BOP that would reduce tyre wear on those cars with heavier tyre wear and/or speed them up to compensate for an extra pit stop and inject a modicum of real-world BOPping by adjusting vehicle pace according to the drivers' times (I've been tracking everyone's relative pace through the Kerfuffle ). The race itself was intended to simulate an FIA manufacturer race, hence the odd settings and penalties set to kill, pluck and stuff.

I did have it all set up for a 17x tyre wear race, and then with the update PD changed some underlying aspect of the vehicle physics and changed its mind about excessive tyre wear in FIA events (hopefully due to @Tidgney's video about it). 11x is still a bit mad, but changes the dynamics a little. So I had to recalculate everything without any additional testing - there was going to be a guaranteed one-stop for everything on mediums, with some cars on the cusp of a two-stop on mediums or softs. The change of tyre wear alone made even the worst cars (TT, RCZ) able to do 65% of the race on mediums before a full red front-right (the Megane Trophy was at 115%), but the physics change was a complete unknown quantity. The principles are still the same, but the data is wonky.

And then I went full Groot and left the qualy fuel load at 100%, then by the time I changed it to 50% it only affected me, and then I forgot to change it for the race. Should have had damage on "light" too. D'oh.

That said I think we were all pretty close, even @Sparkz_360 with that extra 1% drop in race 3, so we're not far off. Wasn't too crap as an experiment, and we had a couple of really close, race-long tussles.


I'll keep working on it and we should be able to have a free-for-all Gr.4 series with custom BOPs and no real advantage to any one car as it should be. Last night's BOP only applies to DTG, but once there's an order to things it won't need much more testing to adjust for each track.

 

[homeforsummer]

Err... I completely forgot about this because I was away on Monday so lost track of time. Sorry guys.

 

[daan]

and then with the update PD changed some underlying aspect of the vehicle physics

Yeah the Cayman felt a bit weird on corner entry. The back felt a bit loose and it felt like I was backing it in to the hairpin on occasion.

 

[Famine]

Err... I completely forgot about this because I was away on Monday so lost track of time. Sorry guys.

@Sparkz_360 was getting lonely up there.

 

[homeforsummer]

I don't know if you still have my phone number @Famine (if not I'll DM you) but it's probably worth giving me a nudge at about 7pm if I've not posted in this thread on the day showing some kind of signs of life!

My calendar is currently clear on Tuesday next week so should be around for whatever we do then (if I remember to turn up).

 

[IfAndOr]

I quite like a bit of race car action.

Quick car report.

The Megane T felt a little underpowered but I suppose wasn't too far off the pace. Its handling with the extra weight was quite good, it took a little longer to stop of course. Tyre wear was manageable, might have just gone the distance on mediums but I swapped to softs mid race.

The Viper wasn't far off its normal figures so it felt... normal. Again starting on mediums tyre wear wasn't too bad, the front's I decided needed replacing mid race. Onto softs the fronts wore down quite quickly during the remainder of the race.

The WRX. Well it just kept going and going! The front right had about a quarter left at the end of the race (mediums). I like the WRX.

The abs setting made a slight difference. I was originally using the weak setting but this gave me more tyre wear than the default option I changed to.

 

[Venari]

Brrrarrrp.

Bouncing across the kerbs.

@Famine undertakes @Sparkz_360 into the hairpin.

Next race, same battle.

@Famine finds out how little grip the gravel affords.

 

[IfAndOr]

Bouncing across the kerbs.

Isn't that a 2 wheel wheelie you're doing there?

 

[Sutsagrd]

Bouncing across the kerbs.

Yep...that’s a 2 wheel wheelie that is...yep...definitely a 2 wheel wheelie...

 

[Venari]

I feel like doing some racing tonight/this weekend. Any recommendations for good racers/events?

 

[buybon355]

Any activity planned for tomorrow?

 

[homeforsummer]

If there's nothing solid, we could just re-run a kerfuffle or six-and-two-threes from a previous week.

Or single-make. Classic Mini series?

 

[Sparkz_360]

Think we should all vote. I did like the Six and Two Threes we did not too long ago, so I will go with that for tonight.

 

[Famine]

Aahhhhh, bastids. I forgot I'm not here tonight. Well, I mean, I'm here, but I'm not there, which is where I'd need to be to be here tonight. Obviously I'm still here, but the here that I am isn't the right here.


Actually, technically, I forgot it was Tuesday at all.