Time Trial Discussion

[A_Higher_Place]

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[Gomario JSP]

Ever since I started taking time trials "seriously", I always got the feeling that there are just some bad sessions, where you can't do anything right, it just won't turn, you cannot nail the apex, you are missing your braking points, no matter how much mileage you put in it, it's impossible to reach the goal. But also, sometimes I just get in the zone, the car listens to my inputs, I'm guiding it just where I want it. Those are not so common and don't happen so often, but tonight was one of those sessions.

I had already put down a very solid laptime at Road Atlanta with 1:31.934, but I knew there was more time there. So I sat down and started lapping. First good lap - 1:31.911 with a very bad first sector, second good lap - 1:31.866 with a below average second sector (here I wanted to stop and post this just to annoy @Dan_Tes who nailed a .867 ) but I didn't, took a break and a shower, ate some dinner and came back.

And here I proudly present to you one of the best laps I've ever done on this game, I could say it's THE best, but I'm missing a couple of hundreds to my sector optimals, so I won't say it just yet.

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The lap:



I will go again on the last day probably and try to get into the top 10, who knows how the stars will align

Absolutely yeeeting the thing in sector one!
What a lap mate!

 

[Lomic]

Went back to Daytona with the Ford, with much more consistent braking points, but not much faster lap, not even better than my best so far (which is 9th lap overall).

In fact everything is a bit worse than first stint, which is a bit frustrating : best lap, optimal and medium are inferior.

And I managed to get my best sector on a different sector on each lap.

But medium might be worse because of lap 10 where I lost focus and missed turn 2 and while I was doing laps very close around 1:48.000 (with some lower 1:47s) I did a 1:50 on lap 10. Medium would have probably ended up in the 47s without that bad lap.

While I was at it, I opened my son's account to get him silver on both TTs doing a few laps on each. Some difficulty at RA at first but I ended up doing a better time than on my account, I may revisit it 😅 that's not gold but nearly 0.4s faster than the best lap on my account.

Went to Daytona next and had a hard time to go below 1:49, not sure why, still managed a somewhat comfy silver. It will double his fortune and he'll have a nice surprise when he'll come back on friday.

Spoiler

 

[Wilsonson]

Went back to Daytona and tried the Viper. Jeez Louise. That beast is the meta for a reason.

I don't really understand why but I somehow got an oil change in my index finger. Throttle control has never been better and I managed to massage the Viper out of the corners without losing traction too often. I was also once again quite consistent with many valid laps which is extremely rare for me.

One of those laps it all came together. I'm not sure I have a lot more in me but maybe I surprise myself. Will definitely do the GT3 Cup race and also come back for a couple more laps.

 

[TheNormsk]

My first session at Daytona. I'm still shaking off the cobwebs but I tried the Viper. Didn't like that so found a non-meta. Decided on the Ford GT LM Race Car Spec II. Jeez what a long name. Anyway, Ford GTs are usually pretty good here. The other GT is probably quicker but the LM is old school fun. Got a 1:46.565 which is good enough for gold for now (+2.83%).

 

[ScottPuss20]

I only got this time after acing the bus stop chicane. The rest of the lap was average and by no means my absolute best. The Viper is not easy to drive because it can jump across the track at low speeds if you accelerate too soon. It's not a nice thing to deal with when you're trying to get smooth exits off the corners.

 

[Dolph Drago]

After three days of trying, I finally broke into the 1:44's, though I'd find another a tenth or two if I could only figure out the dang chicane. I always understeer on exit and invalidate the lap. This lap I about looped it around jamming the stick to the right just trying to get the thing to turn. Frustratingly, during once of my stints yesterday, I had a 1:44.4 optimal. Part of that optimal was because I pulled a 24.485 sector 1 seemingly out of nowhere on one lap. Of course I badly jacked up the rest of the lap. My other best sector 1 times have been in the .7's, like my fast lap. Where I found 3 tenths on that one particular lap I will never know. Wish I could replicate it.

 

[ZevZoq]

Well, taking note of the fact that nearly all the top 100 times were set in the Viper I thought "hmmm, why not?" and I gave it a try. Lo and behold about 15 laps later I lopped another 3 tenths off my PB and now have what feels like a fairly safe gold...maaaaybe. lol...

 

[Carlos Fandango]

Excellent @Dolph Drago ! I did another 100 miles in the Viper this afternoon, and despite an optimal of 1:44.72 I only managed to shave off 0.008 from my prior best. Seems like I can either do sector 1 or I can do the rest of the lap, but I can’t do it all at the same time. Best of .633 in that first sector but nowhere close to that on my best lap 😂. Away for the week so will be back next weekend for the new event

 

[Gorefast]

Well, taking note of the fact that nearly all the top 100 times were set in the Viper I thought "hmmm, why not?" and I gave it a try. Lo and behold about 15 laps later I lopped another 3 tenths off my PB and now have what feels like a fairly safe gold...maaaaybe. lol...

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That's an impressive lap time! Interesting to see that the Viper works for some and for others not. Like @TheNormsk I tried but failed and went with the Ford GT LM spec II instead. So far I had my fastest lap with it despite being a bit slower than the Viper on the straights. Might try the "real" Ford GT, too and will return once more to the Merc. I guess I will stay at Daytona as a stupid combo with a VGT is long overdue... (Don't shoot the messenger!)

 

[NAXEHT]

This came after just about 20 minutes which was sweet but then I spent two hours getting nowhere. Should've ended it there and then. There's a bit of time left to pick up but don't know if I can be bothered. Wasn't really in a good mood and struggling with motivation.

 

[skydragon49]

Hi there (no time)

I may have no time to drive the Viper at Daytona (even if is highly unlikely I'd improve my lap time) but I can dig and discover things online about it.

Here is an onboard video of the thing running around the Daytona road course. It's a GTS-R built by the Oreca team, this specific car #92 finished 5th overall at Daytona 24hrs race back in 2000. The #91 won the race. This video is a historic race type of event.



While at it, it is worth checking this Zakspeed Viper running around the Nurburgring. Glorious sound and the car makes everything else looks so slow.... Also the Zakspeed Vipers have the craziest racing stories ever. The things they were thrown against it to make it stop winning races and the gimmicks the Zakspeed team made up to come around the rules... Crazy stuff.



Sorry for the off topic post. 😁

 

[Interemptor]

Had another go at Daytona. Tried the Viper again but no change. Best I could do with it was a 46.7.. Don't get this car 🤷‍♂️

Completly frustrated I switched back to the Ford GT and got my time down by 0.4s. Reached my optimals from yesterday so I guess that's it now.

 

[TheNormsk]

Hi there (no time)

I may have no time to drive the Viper at Daytona (even if is highly unlikely I'd improve my lap time) but I can dig and discover things online about it.

Here is an onboard video of the thing running around the Daytona road course. It's a GTS-R built by the Oreca team, this specific car #92 finished 5th overall at Daytona 24hrs race back in 2000. The #91 won the race. This video is a historic race type of event.



While at it, it is worth checking this Zakspeed Viper running around the Nurburgring. Glorious sound and the car makes everything else looks so slow.... Also the Zakspeed Vipers have the craziest racing stories ever. The things they were thrown against it to make it stop winning races and the gimmicks the Zakspeed team made up to come around the rules... Crazy stuff.



Sorry for the off topic post. 😁

That was a very interesting comparison to GT racing. They are so much more cautious than the typical crash and bang brigade in GT sport events.

 

[Lomic]

Tried another stint at RA with the Focus.

First lap was red, second too, so in 3rd I was careful but it got invalidated too, I did not understand why at first. So on 4th lap I was really careful, and in fact a cone was on the track (after the incident in lap 1 or 2), and as it was on the trajectory I couln't avoid it and each time it invalidated my lap

So I stopped and did another stint.

Not very good but I managed to do some valid laps at least and improve a tiny bit, but not as much as on my son's account 😅

Spoiler

 

[bliprunner]

This won't last long...

 

[Vule]

Nice little fight going on between the two of you Quite enjoyable when you are just observing for the moment

 

[Fezzik]

Hello everyone. Daytona is my first TT in several months, haven’t played much GT at all. Only had time for a handful of laps. Hopped in a Corvette and got close to gold, then a little bit better in the Viper.

It would be my first gold in a long long time. Will probably have another go at the weekend, free time for a proper TT session is scarce at the moment.

 

[P-Courty]

That was a very interesting comparison to GT racing. They are so much more cautious than the typical crash and bang brigade in GT sport events.

But at the same time it looks like GT7 single player chase the rabbit style races 😂

 

[ZEE]

Well took me a while to muster this time up but its ok, there plenty of time to chase the golden nugget!!!

 

[Thorson1987]

Slowly getting my time down.

Getting into the 45's is going to be a mission.

Tried the Viper and it just won't work for me.

 

[MIE1992]

Tried the Focus RS @ Road Atlanta one today. Got a time of 1:33.335, which is apparently only 2.10% off the top and in the top 5k overall!!

 

[Lomic]

New stint at Daytona, with the Ford GT '17

At last more consistency was on the menu this morning. I feel that I tend to drive cleaner in the morning. More relaxed and focused.

10 laps with improvements nearly everywhere.

Best lap 1:47.346, I beat, by a small margin (-0.050s) my best lap so far that was standing since my first stint, cool ! Progress is made !

Optimal : 1:46.885, best so far (-0.116s)

Medium on 10 laps : 1:47.644 not a single lap above 1:48.000 😊 that's half a second better than all previous mediums so far.

Turn 1 is nearly dialed in.

Hairpin 1 not so much, still very inconsistent here, most of the time I don't brake enough, resulting in going a bit wide on exit and having to coast longer.

Hairpin 2 not very consistent but when I lose time there, it is not as bad as in hairpin 1.

Turn 6 okayish

Bus-stop : things are getting better although I still have difficulty with when to release brake, to not be too fast inside and be too wide and have to delay throttle on exit (or invalidate lap) and not be too slow either.

And it is very frustrating to invalidate laps there because it invalidates next lap...

On lap 5 I invalidated at the bus-stop and did a good lap 6 that was at the moment my new best lap 😩
Fortunately I managed to replicate this time on lap 8 (minus 0.001s 😅)

Then on lap 9 invalidated again at bus stop... so lap 10 dead too, just tried to keep a consistent lap time to avoid faqing up the medium.

Had a lap where by miracle I exited hairpin 1 with -0.280s and that time, I messed up after that lost everything, went into red delta and still managed to be back on the oval after turn 6-7 with blue -0.350s and do a correct bus stop I wonder how low I would have gone if I just did a usual T4-5-6... Next time maybe.

But overall very happy with this stint. Even if best lap did not went down that much. Overall optimal is gold and TT ends next week 🤞

Spoiler

 

[Gorefast]

New stint at Daytona, with the Ford GT '17

At last more consistency was on the menu this morning. I feel that I tend to drive cleaner in the morning. More relaxed and focused.

10 laps with improvements nearly everywhere.

Best lap 1:47.346, I beat, by a small margin (-0.050s) my best lap so far that was standing since my first stint, cool ! Progress is made !

Optimal : 1:46.885, best so far (-0.116s)

Medium on 10 laps : 1:47.644 not a single lap above 1:48.000 😊 that's half a second better than all previous mediums so far.

Turn 1 is nearly dialed in.

Hairpin 1 not so much, still very inconsistent here, most of the time I don't brake enough, resulting in going a bit wide on exit and having to coast longer.

Hairpin 2 not very consistent but when I lose time there, it is not as bad as in hairpin 1.

Turn 6 okayish

Bus-stop : things are getting better although I still have difficulty with when to release brake, to not be to fast inside and be to wide and have to delay throttle for exit (or invalidate lap) and not be too slow either.

And it is very frustrating to invalidate laps there because it invalidates next lap...

On lap 5 I invalidated at the bus-stop and did a good lap 6 that was at the moment my new best lap 😩
Fortunately I managed to replicate this time on lap 8 (minus 0.001s 😅)

Then on lap 9 invalidated again at bus stop... so lap 10 dead too, just tried to keep a consistent lap time to avoid faqing up the medium.

Had a lap where by miracle I exited hairpin 1 with -0.280s and that time, I messed up after that lost everything, went into red delta and still managed to be back on the oval after turn 6-7 with blue -0.350s and do a correct bus stop I wonder how low I would have gone if I just did a usual T4-5-6... Next time maybe.

But overall very happy with this stint. Even if best lap did not went down that much. Overall optimal is gold and TT ends next week 🤞

Spoiler

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Monsieur 10-lap-stint, congrats to your progress! I still don't get the thing about medium. I really do not care about it and regularly there are invalid laps and heavy accidents around my fastest laps. So, what do I not see? (You know that I admire your clean racing style and the results you achieve here using AT!)

 

[Lomic]

Monsieur 10-lap-stint, congrats to your progress! I still don't get the thing about medium. I really do not care about it and regularly there are invalid laps and heavy accidents around my fastest laps. So, what do I not see? (You know that I admire your clean racing style and the results you achieve here using AT!)

A good medium means few errors = better consistency. Invalid lap does not always and up with a bad lap time. Errors do, most of the time.

And I'd cling to every little sign of progress I can to keep my motivation 😅 nothing worse than a stint with errors, where I improve nothing (best lap, optimal, medium or any sectors).

And medium is paramount in a race too. Getting best lap is nice, but being consistent all along the race and getting a good finish is better, much better than alternating very good laps and bad ones.

 

[KK78]

I finally got the chance to have a little stint at Atlanta, was just inside the gold time but wanted to get into the 1:33's and soon managed it Shame I didn't have more time in the Focus because it's a great combo

Now onto Daytona!

 

[Gorefast]

A good medium means few errors = better consistency. Invalid lap does not always and up with a bad lap time. Errors do, most of the time.

And I'd cling to every little sign of progress I can to keep my motivation 😅 nothing worse than a stint with errors, where I improve nothing (best lap, optimal, medium or any sectors).

And medium is paramount in a race too. Getting best lap is nice, but being consistent all along the race and getting a good finish is better, much better than alternating very good laps and bad ones.

Okay, now I understand. I rarely do enough laps to reach a level when I need to optimize my clean sectors. It is most of the time still trial and error and probably the reason why I find ghosts very helpful. I need to test and overshoot the limit to find my driving line. No red laps mean that I was too careful... (Racing is something completely different as we both know well... ) Bonne chance!