@slthree regarding your question on multiclass here's how it goes. If at least 3 human players want to fight it out with GTO cars they can go and pick a car from that class (but NOT the Audi or the Nascar-type car, because they don't have headlihts). If that threshold of 3 players isn't met than human players will ALL race it the top class , meaning Group C.
This doesn't mean that there won't be GTOs in the race because the grid will be filled with AI cars and they can either be Gr.C, GTO or both. Since most of the grid will be human I don't expect us to find more than 1 or 2 GTOs in the race. In any case I find having a second class of cars important in this kind of race, it also requires skill and patience to deal with them and slower traffic (to be respected) is one of the unique features of sportscars racing I want us all to "feel" in this kind of events.
Regarding tyre wear, setups, fuel and the choice of car ... I really don't know and since I am still away from home I am still unable to try and test things. All I can do right now is ... write about it!
So I'll share my thoughts here:
1. Fuel - I have no idea on what cars are best and worst regarding fuel. I suppose in a 24 hour race this can make a real difference, but for a race 1/10th of that I doubt it. I guess I wont bother much with this and will prefer laptimes over fuel. In any case, with equal/similar laptimes of course the car that uses less fuel is the best (less time in the pits, with luck even one pistop saved from race start to race end)
2. Tyres - Hard or Soft in the dry? Well, for race start and since we all know that rain is expected about 30 minutes from race start, you better try to figure out if softs last that much (add to that how much time you can do with one fuel load, whatever the case you know you'll need to head for the pits at or around the 30 minutes-mark).
As for the looooooooooong spell of dry track that follows the rain (about 1h30) ... it again depends on testing. I do remember that at Le Mans, in a 24 hour (Project Cars2) race, I did a sunday morning marathon of driving where I always chose Hard and twice triple stinted them (pitted for fuel two consecutives times and only took fresh rubber again when going in for a 3rd time). But here Iam not sure if it is worth it, because with the hards you lose pace versus cars with softs , not sure if the time saved in the pits is worth it. Again, this is unless the softs get used so fast you must pit for new tyres too often.
3. Downforce - There's no question in my mind that you should put it, both front and back, to high levels, close to or at maximum available. Top speed will suffer but in a full lap it'll be a big advantage. Plus, the car will slide less, therefore tyres will last longer (this of course also depends on how you drive and push them)
4. Understeer/Oversteer - I usually work the car balance while cornering (from corner entry to mid corner to corner exit) mainly with 3 settings. a)
Downforce, b)
Engine Braking and c)
Brake Balance. Lets say you find the car too tail happy, probably you'd want to smooth that by increasing rear downforce (or changing the downforce balance between front and back, favouring the back); or you can try to again change the brake balance more to the front; or you can try to increase the engine braking value. Either of these or all combined will work in their own specific ways.
That said, the guys that truly know how to setup cars will probably change and tweak other, more technical aspects, envolving the suspension (spring rates, bumper values, roll bar stiffness, there are many things in PCars 2 I don't even dare to touch or pretend to understand so I just leave them alone)
Finally ...
5. The car - I think the
Sauber is probably a safe bet, it's nice to drive and it sure is a fast car (as long as you do remember to put its turbo boost up to 100%, for some reason the default settings - both loose and stable - have it at 50%, that's why it is uncompetitive against the Porsches in a "stock setup" race. Will this make that car use too much fuel? Will it make the car get engine damage soon and fast. Don't know yet.
I do know the
Porsche becomes undergunned when the Sauber is released to its full potential, so maybe they are a safe choice (because they are good and stable to drive) and maybe they are easier on tyres and fuel, so in an endurance race maybe they are also a choice worthy of consider.
I still want to also consider the
Nissans and the
Jaguar. I think the former are also good cars to drive but not sure how they compare to the Saubers and Porsches. The latter is clearly the fastest of them all (Group C) in a straight line, but also the trickier to drive (experience from long time ago when this group did a Johnny Dumfries tribute event using the Jaguar in vintage Le Mans) so maybe it isn't suited for a twisty, high downforce track like Brno.
And that's all I can remember now. Will travel later today or tomorrow so I hope I can get some wheel time until saturday! Cheers all
EDIT - Just to add to the buildup ...
With the memories of the Silk Cut Jaguar victory at Le Mans still fresh, the teams moved on to Czechoslovakia, the first ever round of the World Sports prototype championship to be run behind the Iron Curtain. The Jaguar team had high hopes of dominating this race on the impressive Brno course...
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