Ok, this is the day! Less than 4 hours from now the event will start. This is the schedule (all times GMT):
3.45 PM - Lobby open, invites will be sent. It's just a "get together" lobby for last minutes information, system/settings checks and doubts-clearing. The track will be open for Free Practise for about 15 minutes, with no AI cars present. This lobby closes at 4 PM
4.00 PM - Race Lobby open. Invites sent. AI cars present, filling all grid spots left open by human players.
4.00 PM -
Free Practise - lasts 15 minutes. Weather will be clear but it will happen during the night so all have a chance to a last practise of night-driving.
4.20 PM -
Qualifying - lasts 20 minutes, during day time, overcast weather.
4.45 PM -
Race - lasts 1h45, simulating an approximate 24 hour day/night/day cycle. Weather will be variable and the weather settings are "Syinc to Race" in the following order:
Race start - Clear
In game 6 hours after - Overcast
In game 12 hours after - Light Fog
In game 18 hours later - Hazy
So the night, or at least the very late hours (3 AM onwards is my guess) until - and including - sunrise will demand your fullest concentration.
But no rain, thanks to raeggee
AI setting will be 90/100, I suppose this means the fastest guys will hav their fastest laps at around 3.12. Against them is that they lose time in slower traffic (although this is the track where this problem is minimized a lot by the long flat-out straights). For them is that, once the race settles, they don't usualy make mistakes.
Classification however is only about us humans, anything AI related is only for bragging rights.
Other important settings to bear in mind
- Visual Only Damage (but be careful with those headlights, you'll need them)
- Setups open (I can share my own for both the 512M and 512 S, only cars I drove)
- You are in control of your car in pit lane! (you must be the one to stop it where your crew is)
About race/pit strategy my guess is that no tyres will need to be changed, but I think two stops for fuel will be needed. One to get a full tank in, the other probably just half a tank (or even less) close to the end of the race.
So far the confirmed entrants are 6.
1. Myself (FLAT_TWELVE) - Ferrari 5212 S (Filipinetti #14)
2.
@Mr_D (Capt_quarck) - Porsche 917 LH (?)
3. Duarte (Hun200kmh) - Porsche 917 LH (Martini Livery)
4. raeggee (raeggee) - Ferrari 512 M (Sunoco)
5. Diogo (hartur) - Porsche 917 K (?)
6. Ricardo (GTP_RPREGO) - Ferrari 512 S (Ecurie Francorchamps, it's the yellow one)
This means we will have 10 AI cars to deal with, either Prototypes or GT.
But I'm sending one last call to the monday folks, I know your heart lies in
shorter, pick up and drive it like you stole it racing, but this can be fun too. And worry not for lack of practise, the length of practise and qualifying sessions coupled with your experience and known skill will get you up to speed in no time.
@Zolon32 lucky you with that VR thing, Duarte is a fan also but every time I tried it I became so nauseated (for long periods of time) that I will never try that again (only managed a decent experience flying a F16 over the Atlantic, and making minor adjustments, no loops or anything LOL). About GT7, I can understand how its eye-candy might be catchy but honestly, I golded the licenses and missions and everything else was a stale experience. GT7 is a beautiful frigid lady compared to the hotness of the PCars2 woman. And the game structure itself is abhorrent (not to mention being ruled by greed). The disk is picking up dust in my shelf (and was given to me by raeggee so that tells you what he thinks of the game also).
@IfAndOr I hear you about the dark side, my best suggestion is that you ask Ricardo what did he do, because it's been a long time now that I don't hear that complaint from him (and he was the first to point this out to me as a problem when he switched from PS4 to PS5).