Touring Car All-Stars! (Spec 2.0 DLC Friendly!)

[Snaeper]

Alright, so this is definitely an interest check in the rough! Check back for more polished updates to the main post in the time coming.

A quickie about Digital Racing Commission

Digital Racing Commission was created as an umbrella racing organizer, promoter and testing avenue. While a few more racing series are planned, TC All-Stars will be at the forefront for now to help ramp things up. I'm looking for enthusiastic and dedicated members to join the Digital Racing Commission!

The long term goal is to create a body of individuals that is welcoming to new ideas and trying new things. I know the difficulties of planning and starting a series and I want DRC to make things easier for future organizers, who need only come to us for expertise, knowledge and feedback to help get his or her own racing series started. Regardless of whether or not it's under the DRC banner! I want to help grow the Gran Turismo and gtplanet communities and I feel that creating a reliable brand and knowledge base is a way to do it.

Digital Racing Commission's:​

Touring Car All-Stars!​

Inspired by all of the wonderful touring car racing found around the world and motivated by the fact that none of this was being emulated to great effect (some have tried and have success, but they don't have my vision!): I decided to create TC All-Stars to provide the community with what I felt was one of the first series that would harness a great variety of touring cars in a competitive format.

I want to create a series that is challenging, yet fun at the same time. Teams need to figure out a cars strengths and tune accordingly, setting appropriate goals for the season and racing hard where they know their car will do the best. The Performance Point system found in Gran Turismo 5 is, in my opinion, the best way to obtain these goals. In addition it allows a certain amount of creativity on a teams part and gives them an opportunity to dial a car in to the way they want it, instead of simply copying down the specs that someone sets out for them. On top of that, the PP system does not easily reward those who wish to deviate from the rules and regulations. In the event someone does try to undermine pre-set regulations, the PP value acts as a fail safe to ensure the car remains competitive to the rest of the law-abiding pack.

Some of the other root ideas that will be pushing the series are as follows:

No race will ever have two of the same car!
Entries will be based on teams and not individuals!
The series will give back to the greater GT community to help it grow so it can, in turn, help the DRC group grow!
and finally...
Aggressive but clean, competitive and FUN racing!

The Cars, Classes and Regulations

The cars are the most important part of TCAS, mainly because there's a lot of them! By my last casual count there will be around 46 eligible entries into the series and thus leaving room for plenty of happy racers with no car duplications. Rally cars and Super GT300 cars were always meant to be included due to their close performance to the standard Touring Cars.

While a number of minor regulations will be set in place, the main two will be the 500 Performance Point value and racing hard tires. As a side note, vehicles should not be over-tuned and then dialed down with the performance limiter.

The 500PP value was chosen to allow teams to get creative with how to work within the boundaries of the regulations and the car. Granted certain cars MUST retain minor regulations (such as Super Touring-class cars not using more aero than they're allowed.) Other limitations are under consideration such as universal final drive ratios and top speed limitations, but these are hard to regulate and might suck up the fun.

Universal Regulations
Tires: Racing Hard
Performance Points: 500

Aero Max: 50 Points (You can adjust aero between the front and rear, but the two values combined cannot exceed 50. Ex: 15/35 or 20/30. You may use less Aero, however the bonus Performance Points cannot be added to the total power, only the weight of the vehicle.)
Horsepower Max: Under 305hp
Weight Minimum: TBD

ASL - ARTA Garaiya ‘03 (JGTC)
ASL - ARTA Garaiya ‘08 (SGT)
Lexus - IS200 GT1
Lexus - Weds Sport IS350 (SGT)
Nissan - Skyline GT-R R32 Touring Car*
Nissan - Skyline GT-R R33 Touring Car*
Nissan - C-West RAZO Silvia (JGTC)
Mazda - Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 ‘04 (JGTC)
Mazda - Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 ‘06 (SGT)
Subaru - Cusco Advan Impreza ‘03 (JGTC) ST
Subaru - Cusco Dunlop Impreza ‘08 (SGT) ST
Toyota - WEDSSPORT Celica (JGTC) ST
Toyota - SUPERAUTOBACS APEX MR-S (JGTC) ST

Aero Max: 15/35 Fixed
Horsepower Max: TBD
Weight Minimum: TBD

Acura - NSX RaceMod
BMW - 320i Touring Car
Chevrolet - Camaro Z/28 ‘69 RaceMod
Citroen - Xsara Rally Car
Honda - Integra Type R Touring Car
Honda - S2000 LM
Honda - Opera Performance S2000
Honda - Spoon S2000 Race Car
Honda - Integra Type R RaceMod
Honda - Civic Type R RaceMod
Honda - CR-Z Touring Car
Lotus - Elise RaceMod
Lotus - Elise 111R RaceMod
Mazda - Atenza Touring Car
Mazda - RX-7 Touring Car*
Mazda - MX-5 Roadster Touring Car
Mitsubishi - Lancer Evolution IX GSR RaceMod
Nissan - Silvia Spec-R Aero RaceMod
Nissan - Skyline GT-R R34 Touring Car*
Renault Sport - Clio Trophy V6 24V Race Car
Renault Sport - Lutecia Trophy V6 24V Race Car
Subaru - Impreza Touring Car*
Toyota - Altezza Touring Car
Volkswagen - Golf GTI RaceMod

Aero Max: TBD
Horspower Max: TBD
Weight Minimum and Maximum: 1230kgs

Citroen - C4 WRC
Ford - Escort Rally Car
Ford - Focus Rally Car
Ford - Focus RS WRC
Lancia - Delta HF Integrale Rally Car
Mitsubishi - CZ-3 Tarmac Rally Car
Mitsubishi - Lancer Evolution X Touring Car*
Mitsubishi - Lancer Evolution Super Rally Car
Mitsubishi - Lancer Evolution IV Rally Car
Mitsubishi - Lancer Evolution VI Rally Car
Peugeot - 206 Rally Car
Subaru - Impreza Rally Car ‘99
Subaru - Impreza Rally Car ‘01
Subaru - Impreza Rally Car Prototype
Subaru - Impreza Rally Car ‘03
Subaru - Impreza WRX STI Spec C Type RA RaceMod
Subaru - Impreza WRC 2008
Suzuki - SX4 WRC
Toyota - Celica Rally Car (ST185)
Toyota - Celica Rally Car (ST205)
Toyota - Corolla Rally Car

As you can see above there's a plethora of cars to pick from, and at least 40 of them have been run through performance testing by yours truly to ensure that speeds and times are close... and they are! There's really no reason why these cars wont make great competitors to each other.

*= The DLC Racing Cars will need to be tested before they are approved as entries, but these vehicles listed will more than likely be capable of performing on the level of the other entries. The GT-R's will most likely have to run a stock engine and turbo in order to apply. We'll see about that CR-Z too, might make things interesting.

UPDATE: Well we all know how the DLC cars turned out, so they've all been removed. The CR-Z and Mazda could remain with minor modifications... but I wouldn't ask you to do that of your paid DLC and I think the grid won't miss two more cars. Also the CR-Z's battery reliance makes it un-competitive after only a few laps. All of the cars will stay on the list in case the update in December (when they're added to the garage) brings good things! Assuming the TC's are re-relased as RM-style cars, then all of them will be re-added to the list. Assuming the best, I've moved a few around to other classes. (R32/R33 go to ST and Evo X goes to RS)

Tracks

Tracks are selected due to their disparity towards each other. Teams will need to reformat their cars to prepare them for the varying challenges each circuit provides. Tracks will range from the short and aggressive Autumn Ring Mini, to the mighty Fuji Speedway. Some of the longer tracks will be avoided to ensure competitors remain close.

Season 1
Deep Forest Raceway

Circuito de Madrid Mini

Suzuka East

Eiger Nordwand Reverse

Spa-Francorchamps

Trial Mountain


Season 2
Grand Valley East

Fuji Speedway GT

Tsukuba Circuit

Cape Ring South

Autumn Ring Mini

Monaco ("Cote d' Azur", but who really calls it that?)


Special Events
Nurburgring Mini-Enduro

Suzuka Mini-Enduro



Teams

I want to emphasize making teams for one simple reason: Longevity. All entries into this series will be contested by Managers who will then take it upon themselves to find drivers to participate for the team, so when drivers choose to leave, the Managers stay and keep a level of consistency within the series.

Managers will also be responsible for making tunes, whether they do it themselves or they find an experienced tuner to join the team is up to them, but tunes MUST be made! These tunes will then be offered to the GT community to encourage new TCAS participants thanks to the race-tested tunes applied to their cars.


Manager Responsibilities (Basically B-Spec but for "real"):
1. Find Drivers that can make the scheduled time of events
2. Create tunes that will be marketed under the Managers team
3. Help build Touring Car All-Stars as a series with new ideas and perspectives.
4. Keep statistics of his/her drivers to help market themselves in the GT Community.
5. Coach drivers to improve performance.
6. Test cars for all Digital Racing Commission series to help grow DRC.

Lastly...

Competition

While no rules are concrete yet, you should already know the basics.

Here are a few of the rules I felt passionate enough to write down:

1. Keep everything clean and fair
2a. Your pass should not force you or someone else off the tarmac.
2b. Your pass should not willingly take your car off of the tarmac.
3. Be aware of your surroundings: NO EXCUSES. Use the HUD Map or an appropriate camera-view to ensure you know where the cars around you are.
4. Your car must remain compliant with specs throughout the course of a season.
5a. While you are permitted to aggressively defend your position, your car must NEVER impede faster competitors, this may lead to unfortunate situations that could have been avoided. Ex: If you notice that five cars have collected up behind you, then it's safe to say that you're one of the slower cars on the track and you should move over and let them by when it's most convenient to you.
5b. In the event that a competitor's car is attempting to pass you, you MUST stick to your lane regardless of what lane you'd prefer to be in, in an upcoming situation. You cannot run a competitor off the road!
6a. Respect the position of the car in front of you, if you choose to follow him closely you must expect that at some point he's going to brake for a turn and you are not to use his car to slow your car down, nor punt his car into the wall or grass/sand.
6b. No making your own lines on a track! If a competitor in front of you has clearly shut down the inside line then you cannot decide to put two wheels in the grass and attempt to squeeze under him. This wont end well for anybody, I guarantee it.

More rules to come of course.

Give me feedback!!

 

[balang_479]

I have been looking closely into doing a championship using cars in your CS class, and have done a lot of testing to balance the cars all based around 495pp and then adjusted accordingly. If I don't end up doing my championship I'll for sure look into this one.

 

[Snaeper]

Well even if you do end up doing your Championship, I'll send you an invite. I want to test some of these cars against the other ones at the same time, since so far I've only been able to do solo laps. And since you seem to have a collection of the cars yourself, it will benefit you as well.

By the way, all three classes perform on a dime with each other. If I was a more talented and patient tuner (and a robotic-ally repetitive driver), I'm sure all of the cars could lap Tsukuba (my test track) with a mere second separating them. People really need to give GT's PP system a bit more credit since it certainly does work. The exception is the Citroen Xsara which I think has an invalid weight (890kg compared to the other Rally cars which are 1230kgs) and yet has a similar PP value.

Below is a .pdf of some of my Tsukuba times along with notable stats for each car. All of the cars are only separated by 2-3 seconds. Which I chalk most of that down to the fact that not all of them are tuned properly(some are not tuned at all!) and that there are inconsistencies in my own performance since in most cases it was my first time ever driving the car!

In many instances, numbers don't always mean everything either! If you look at both Wedssport cars as well as the Autobacs MR-S, you'll see that they each have two entries on the list. The Celica lost top end power yet ran an identical lap, the MR-S lost top end power and ran an even FASTER lap... and then the IS350 lost power and ran a drastically slower lap. Also, the Rally cars on the list ran faster lap times mainly due to the fact that they had more traction since all of my runs were a 1 and done on cold tires to save me time and ensure consistency. Thus the AWD gave them faster times, although I imagine everything would balance out a bit more as the rubber warms up.

 

[gknap]

Looks very interesting. How do I participate?

 

[Snaeper]

Looks very interesting. How do I participate?

Well this is still just an interest check, so I'm going to wait for a bit more feedback and responses before I set this thing in complete motion.

At the same time, I'm going to be aligning myself and hopefully this series with the Online Racing Bureau (ORB) when they launch. But I appreciate your interest!

 

[Snaeper]

Well, I'm still behind this series and I'm almost done with my second round of testing, this time using my G27 wheel.

I chose Deep Forest as my test track this time around as it is still a relatively condensed course (so I don't spend two hours testing ten cars) yet provides a much broader range in terms of elevation changes, high and low speed corners as well as long straights (when compared to my previous test course, Tsukuba).

I've also included a cherry-picked crop of heavily modified street cars (read: everything but front aero) and they've shown good and consistent times that are on par with the lower-powered and lighter, yet sticker race cars. With this, I'm considering adding a "Super Stock" class with a small selection of vehicles.

So far, I've tested all but the majority of the rally cars and here are the general results as of this moment

Six cars ran the circuit in 1:19 seconds with one of them being a tuned Honda NSX Type R, which impressed me immensely.

Twenty-five cars ran the circuit at 1:20 with one of them being a modified Opera S2000, again another of the "Street" cars.

Eleven cars followed behind at 1:21 and again another of the "Street" cars finished with them, this being the Gran Turismo 350Z RS which had an impressive run.

Lastly, ten cars followed at 1:22 and were again joined by one of the front-aero less counterparts, this one being a Motorsports Elise.

Of note, the fifth "street" car that was tested was listed was an Opera 350Z. This car had no aero whatsoever and I only attempted three laps of which only the time of 1:24 actually counted. The car was a bit too unruly to truly push at the same level as the other cars so any street cars that participate must have rear arrow to be even remotely competitive. I'd also suggest weight as that improves handling in cars with lower aero, as I'll most likely confirm since I'm about to test a number of heavy low-aero Rally cars (most rally cars run stock 12/20 downforce while all other cars use 15/35 and Super Stock cars use 0/15).

I'll be back with more data soon!

EDIT: Alright, Round 5 of testing is completed. All rally cars ran very consistently in their times when compared against the other cars who were all over the board. The sole exception was the ST185 Celica which will be moved to another class due to it's performance. The above stats have been edited to include the final times.

With this much more in depth performance data under my belt, I've created a few more classes to sort the cars into to help keep things competitive and fair. Here are the tentative classes so far.

Super Touring Unlimited (STU)
Toyota Altezza Touring Car
Acura NSX RM
Honda S2000 LM
Superautobacs MR-S
Renault Sport Trophy Race Car
Weds Sport Celica
Weds Sport IS350
ARTA Garaiya '08
ARTA Garaiya '03
Amemiya ASPARADRINK RX-7 '06
Amemiya ASPARADRINK RX-7 '04
Cusco Dunlop Impreza
Cusco Advan Impreza

Super Touring (ST)
Lotus Elise 111R RM
Nissan Silvia RM
Lexus IS200 GT1
Spoon S2000 Race Car
Citroen Xsara Rally Car
BMW 320i Touring Car
Opera S2000

Touring Cars (TC)
Chevrolet Camaro RM
Mitsubishi Evolution IX GSR RM
Subaru Impreza WRX STI spec C type RA RM
Mazda Atenza Touring Car
Nissan C-West RAZO Silvia
Toyota Celica GT-Four Rally Car (ST185)

Competition Spec (CS)
Honda Integra Type R RM
Honda Integra Type R Touring Car
Honda Civic Type R RM
Honda CR-Z TC
Lotus Elise RM
Lotus Motorsport Elise
Mazda Miata TC
Volkswagen GTI RM

Rally Spec (RS)
Mitsubishi CZ-3 Tarmac Rally Car
Mitsubishi Evolution IV Rally Car
Mitsubishi Evolution VI Rally Car
Mitsubishi Evolution Super Rally Car
Toyota Celica GT-Four Rally Car (ST205)
Toyota Corolla Rally Car
Lancia Delta HF Integrale Rally Car
Peugeot 206 Rally Car
Citroen C4 WRC
Suzuki SX4 WRC
Subaru Impreza WRC
Subaru Impreza Rally Car '99
Subaru Impreza Rally Car '01
Subaru Impreza Rally Car Prototype '01
Subaru Impreza Rally Car '03
Ford Focus Rally Car
Ford Escort Rally Car
Ford Focus WRC