I have to say, the pace notes sucks for the GT Rally. Nothing like RBR or Colin McRae stuff since they don't convey the corner in detail in terms of stringing corners together and details about jump and connecting corners....
HAHA, Word. Thats the only part that makes the rally special so frustrating, I always rely on the red gear notes to gauge when to brake or what gear, but half the time the game forgets to load the note and all of the sudden you'll get the blinking red gear note as if to say "OH ****, you were supposed to start braking back there!" Thanks, too late for that! But you're right, you jsut need to learn how to visualize the speed each turn needs to be taken and imporvize the cars angle and approach.
I find it pretty interesting people have trouble with the full nordschleife lap considering it seemed to me to be the easiest. It seems they give you a bit more time and, correct me if I'm wrong, but it also seems that you will naturally start each section at a higher speed than what the game will set you off when you do the seperate 4 sections. A few tips I can give; I'll try to be a bit brief.
First all aids off, ABS 1 if you like, but since I always set it at 0 I'm not sure whats the difference, if any at all in terms of finding time. Also you want to aim to psuh the car to a limit to were it slides very slightly on all high and mid speed corners. According to the APEX book you get with the Collectors Edition, the tires will achieve the most grip when they jsut start to slip(they call it 15% tire slip percentage) so its safe to say they applied this physic to the game. You might try to push too hard by encouraging the car to almost a shallow drift, but this will slow you down. You should have learned the track from the first 4 devided sections, so you should know the speed it takes to to just get the car to twitch, if not at least squeal them tires.
Sector 1, I dont have many tips. I always found this to be the easiest and troublefree section; I golded it in begginer on 3rd try, 1st clean run. So I guess just push hard, especially in the esses(Hocheichen) and Flugplatz(300 SL I think is flat out, SLS you need a bit of brake and lift off). However take you time and save your chances for the last hairpin(Aremberg) and brake early/dont late brake. Its a very slow turn and you'll be going balls out fast, on top of that its very off camber and taking it just a hair past peak limit sends you sideways and you might as well start over again. Take that one easy.
Sector 2 is my favorite, as there are a few key turns that I find make a difference in finding time. Fuchsrohre and Adenauer Forst you should have down form the sector specific trial, considering them to be the first complex of turns you'll have taken them every frustrating restart(
). I find the key turn in this section to be the lowspeed haripin(Kallenhard) after the tight left then right(Metzgesfeld). This turn you have to hit your braking point as late as possible but slow down enough to were you dont spin out. Its off camber, so whats important is that you go the perfect speed with barely any trail braking, and the off camber of the turn will pull your back end out. You'll essentially be doing an extremely mild drift without any input from throttle or brake. Its hard to achieve this since as I said, take it a hair too fast and you'll spin out, do it too slow and you might lose a few tenths, do it just right and you can [gradually] punch it out to the exit curb with great exit speed(I typically found a whole second with the 300 SL). Its a very delicate feel, as there is no input, just correct speed and letting the off-banking of the turn do the rest. Wherseifen should be pretty self explanitory, late brake as much as possible but make sure you can cut enough speed out to hit that tight left minihairpin without any slipping. Last key turn, is to hit the some-what blind left hander(Breidscheid) after Wherseifen with some late braking and good speed. This turn is a good expamle of how you need to throw the car in a very shallow and brief slide into the apex and then catch it with a bit throttle to blast out of exit to find some time. Take Bergwerk with some patience and trail braking. It seems to tighten up at the end so you need to be patient as save your line for a late late apex.
Sector 3 is my least favorite, as for some reason the second half is always very vague to me; I dont have it all memorized. First half is simple flat out, Karussel shouldnt be too hard to maximize grip and time(as I'm sure its everyones favorite part), and the rest is just semi-blind left left right right complexes. Its all rythem and late braking really, just watch out for the off camber turns towards teh end of the section.
Sector 4 is also my most favorite, I find it very easy to run it consistant before the straight as I always pass the flag marker as the straight starts within tenths of a second no matter how extremely good or bad I felt I did. Trying to keep it brief(ha), there shouldnt be any mystery as to how to take this section. Pflanzgarten I braking points are very specific to each car and you want to have the speed that carries you out a bit after you brake for the right hander. Of course Pflanzgarten II is completely flat out easily(SLS might need a small bit of lift off in the beggining just so you dont undo your entire lap, you wont lose a tenth if that). Try to use the camber of the Karussel wannabe turn(Schwalbenschwanz) to sling your car through to hold alot of speed. Basic racing theory states the corner before the longest strait is most import in find good lap time, so this(Dottinger Hohe) is the only key turn of section 4. Basically, why this turn is so important, is on the strait you'll be going flat out red lining in top gear, covering the most ground at the fastest rate possible(because you wont be braking for turns in s straight, duh). This makes the exit of the corner before the straight more important than any turn on the course because, basically the higher revs you hold through that turn, the higher exit speed you'll acheive. The higher exit speed the sooner you hit top speed. The sooner you hit top speed the more ground you can cover AT top speed. The more ground you cover at top speed the faster the lap time you can achieve. To put it simple, you can efficiently increase your average speed of the entire lap in this one corner, and that directly effects lap time. So basically you must have that last turn(Dottinger Hohe) down extremely well, which isnt easy as it is off camber. You have to apporach with a small period of lift off, but when you get back on the throttle is crucial so as to keep the highest revs possible for the best exit speed. Seconds can be found here, so long as your late braking is good and consistant as you deal with Teirgarten through Hohenrain-Schikane.
I wish I had some sector times to help give a sort of marker for people track themselve to see if they are making good progress, but I think I only saved one replay if any. I think I said I was gunna make this breif, but it looks like I failed. Basically keep these key turns in mind while trying to hold the car to the limits on high and mid speed turns: careful for Aremberg, concentrate on speed and braking for Fuchsrohre through Adenauer Forst, take Kallenhard at PERFECT speed and entry(with light and early trail braking as to not spin out), rip through Breidscheid, late late apex for Bergwerk, dont overshoot Karussel, capitolize your speed on Dottinger Hohe, and dont fnck up you're almost done! By far the most fun track of GT5.
As for wet weather and time change, these are actually easy due to the fact you'll already be doubting yourself because you might be dreading the wet road difficulty. Dont udnerestimate, as PD actually gave you plenty of fnck up room with gold times. I did my 300 SL expert with 19 seconds left exactly, which should be enough time for me to have spun out once or twice and still get gold. What really makes rain so easy is once you get used to the new racing line gold times are easily destroyed. The examples should tell you that you need to stay off the "polished" racing line since there is very little to no grip. You basically jsut need to do your braking off line, slide through the polished dry racing line, and catch your grip off line again and put the hammer down. Off camber turns you should do your braking on the inside pointing to the outside of turn in, and take it wide. On camber turns you can actually afford to take the dry line cause the banking will restore grip. Its merely a matter of "searching" for grip as you will be able to see the dry line as a lighter shade of grey and the off line grippier part of track will be darker.
Have fun!
Edited to navigate the post easier :|
. The way I drove, I'm sure I would have destroyed the tyres and written of the car in real life but this is the virtual world 
.
Trying to get to level 24 right now so I can do the expert tier of the event.
After about 4 🤬 hours of trying, and getting an infuriating 7.05.103 
, I finally passed the intermediate AMG final challenge with a 7.04.034! Best tip I can think of is to turn traction control OFF, it really helps!
. If I need a break there is a 4hour endurance at Tsukuba to do.
