Week 19: Mazda Again?

[Dr_Watson]

well... i ran a quasi-scientific test on the cars.
I had b-spec billy run 5 laps in each car @ the required power/weight on R5's
just to make sure he wasn't learning the track or something silly like that, i reset the console between each car.
the results: he thinks the viper is the fastest...
so i'm putting that one in @ 0 and scaling the other cars by how much they are slower than the viper.

oreca viper : 0.000
ford gt lm spec II : +1.137
camaro LM : +1.748
corvette c5r : +2.226

use this information however you please.

 

[MinorShunt]

I'm hoping I'll get to compete this week. Life has been...........interesting lately.

Ran all 4 cars. Great comp Kent! 👍
Did 5 laps each, all at 310 gearing, no aids, on R5 tires. Then I went back and ran what feels like.......well is the fastest car for me.

Best of first 5 laps

Viper
(T1-18.225)
(T2-35.972)
(T3-54.662)

C5R
(T1-18.593)
(T2-35.983)
(T3-55.141)

GT LM
(T1-18.407)
(T2-35.768)
(T3-54.703)

Camaro
(T1-18.387)
(T2-36.047)
(T3-55.329)

Of course I went back and drove the Viper a few more laps. And that is the car I have my best time in so far. Not unexpected IMO.

T1: 18.292
T2: 35.815
T3: 53.904

What is really interesting to me, is the fact that I so want to just love the Ford, but don't. (ford guy) I don't know why either. It drives well, has good acceleration, etc. But I don't think I could come within .5 of the Oreca. hmmmm.

What was really suprising is how much I dislike the C5R. I kinda liked this car in GT3, but the GT4 driveability just seems....I don't know, off.

My opinion is that the Camaro drives completely different, and better than the C5R. It is very predictable, good acceleration, and great brakes. Maybe it's the gearing that seems better. Don't know yet. Anyway, I'm definitely going to spend some time in the Camaro to see what it does when it's pushed.

Which leaves the Viper. In the Oreca trim, this has always been a great ride. I like the engine sound in GT4 better, but the handling seems about the same to me. But then I've always kinda dug the Viper for a long time.

Luxy made a comment about trail braking in 2,3, and 4. I'll have to give it a try. Makes a lot of sense! 👍

And here's my tip. Lower gearing = Lower times. Just play with it is all I'm saying. 310 isn't the end all. Check out the powerbands in sim mode.

Later all!

 

[hOt6o4bOi]

Viper
(T1-18.007)
(T2-35.094)
(T3-53.213)

still lots of time on the track, but quick question

where do i get the Ford GT?

 

[Small_Fryz]

do a quick search for NTSC prize car list. Jordan should have one on this page

 

[De Bolle]

I'm hoping I'll get to compete this week. Life has been...........interesting lately.

Ran all 4 cars. Great comp Kent! 👍
Did 5 laps each, all at 310 gearing, no aids, on R5 tires. Then I went back and ran what feels like.......well is the fastest car for me.

Thanks for the comparison, MinorShunt!
I've only tried the Viper, because it was my favourite car in GT3. This week I do not have a lot of time, so I'll probably stick to it and focus on getting a good time in this car.
I started out with the gearing at 260, but this had me shifting all the time, I felt like Seb Loeb!

 

[VEXD]

So am i reading right?

You guys are ALL using the viper all day?

Boring.

Camaro please.

Always favoured it, have i.

Kent, am i showing my lack of knowledge in GT here?

I think its a better car.

Maybe i'll run them both, and see that you are all right, as of yet, i havent tried any of them, havent had chance.

Either way, i want to wish you all luck with the racing this week, and say this:

No car is going to achieve more than 175MPH down the straight at laguna, so the gearing should equate to 280KPH top speed, maybe 10 or possibly 20 more, but certainly no higher than 300 should do it.

Have fun.


And, nice one Kent.
👍

 

[KLR142]

Man, I REALLY don't want the cars to be unbalanced... Kent, is there any way that we can change the weight/power ratios a little more to even it out a tad bit more? Possibly? *sigh*

 

[De Bolle]

@ hotboi: win it in the GT World Championship.

 

[MisterWeary]

Yeehah!!!! Lovin this combo, here are my splits:

Car: Dodge VIPER GTS-R Team Oreca '00
Top Speed: 310 (thinking of using 320...we'll see)
Tyres: RSS
T1: 0'18.249
T2: 0'35.696
T3: 0'54.509

I'm losing time from T2 to T3 fairly substantially so I'll figure that one out over the week 👍

 

[Androoos]

There are many of you that are against using the Viper. Why? No one has made a good case for not using it yet, and no one has put up a fast time in one of the other cars.

Got some new splits.
T1: 18.256 (have seen 18.1 on numerous occasions)
T2: 35.258
T3: 53.808

Until I see some competitive times in another car, I'm sticking with the Viper. So far it seems to be the best balanced car of the group. Also I noticed some have the gearing set a bit higher than what I'm using. It doesn't seem that you'd even get into 6th gear with gearing set at 310 or 320.

And as for the pitlane, I'm surprised people even asked whether 4 wheels on it was legal or not.

 

[kragbees]

Sounds like a great combo Kent, nice classic American car on an awesome American track, probably the best, although they say it's not suited to bikes ... Watched the MotoGP with Nicky Hayden winning there a few weeks ago ... wow, you should have seen that bikes fly around there, and thru the corkscrew ... wow ... throwing a bike around like that is just amazing ...

Seeing as everyone's using the Viper, I will probably also use it later tonight, as it's also my fav car out of those 4 ... it's just a shame that there's always one car being better than all the others when we get to choose cars for a given week. It must be really difficult trying to find cars that are exactly the same, but these are probably the closest Kent could get, or anyone for that matter.

I guess it's probably right for the Viper to be the best, as it's been winning most of the races it competed in if I'm correct ?

 

[fasj6418]

SWEET!!
Glad to see one of my, sorry 'Drooos, OUR suggestions made it. Like the other two cars added there too 👍 . Should be great . Don't know how well I'll do though, I haven't run the Laguna in this game as well as I did in GT3, hopefully this week will give me the push to learn it well! Guess I made my own bed on this one ...

just to end up with the "congrats Kent for a awesome combo" thing...

puck and androoos came up with this idea last month... but, i also have a suggestion close to that. here´s a quote of one of my posts in the suggestions box:

[/QUOTE]
the Vette C5R x Viper GTS-R already sounds nice... and if we are talking about variety, i would also put the Camaro LM and the Ford GT40 LM in that mix

let´s see, but laguna seca looks like a sure choice for the next weeks... 👍 [/QUOTE]



well, what do i get this week? exactly that, i coudn´t believe it. nice to see that everyone is enjoying... last night i only had time to b-spec 2 germam DTM´s to get the money i need to buy the cars that i still don´t have (vette and viper)

but tonight i plan on making a serious run with those cars 👍
i´m loving it already

 

[geeTeye]

Unfortunately I only got to see the combo this morning, looks great! 👍

A quick question:
Has anyone tried using the Ford with R5's on the rear and R4's on the front? 💡 This may help the oversteering nigglies most are experiencing. Gonna give this option a go after work today and will let you know my findings.

 

[MisterWeary]

Couldn't resist a few more laps...this Viper is such a fun drive

T1: 0'18.312
T2: 0'35.603
T3: 0'54.423

I'm still sticking with 310, gear selection feels natural around the track, but I might do some experimenting tomorrow. Happy with my splits after Day 1 👍

 

[kragbees]

Couldn't resist a few more laps...this Viper is such a fun drive

T1: 0'18.312
T2: 0'35.603
T3: 0'54.423

I'm still sticking with 310, gear selection feels natural around the track, but I might do some experimenting tomorrow. Happy with my splits after Day 1 👍

Hi there MW,

I was just wondering, would it not be the best to just tune the max speed for the longest straight ? Being the start/finish straight ? So basically, stop just before the last corner, then start gunning it down the straight, and then adjusting the top speed to just hit the limiter before you have to brake for the 1st corner ? Or would that not make sense ?

 

[Luxy]

RE: top speed
Don't assume it's necessary to use all six gears. I drove both the Viper and the GT with the top speed setting at 350km/h, and didn't use sixth gear at all. For the Viper, this felt perfect and I wasn't dropping out of the power band. The GT felt like the revs dropped too low in a few corners, and I lost power (turn 4, particularly).

I think the track is more interesting than the cars this week, tbh The old Laguna Seca was a fairly easy track, and was all about cutting the corners just perfectly. When I first drove the new Laguna, I was disappointed because it felt like a lot of the flow was gone. After spending a little time with it last night, I actually like it a lot better, because it forces you to drive it properly, and keep the car on the track. It's definitely more of a challenge

 

[MisterWeary]

Hi there MW,

I was just wondering, would it not be the best to just tune the max speed for the longest straight ? Being the start/finish straight ? So basically, stop just before the last corner, then start gunning it down the straight, and then adjusting the top speed to just hit the limiter before you have to brake for the 1st corner ? Or would that not make sense ?

You're probably right Kragbees and I'm gonna experiment with that but as Luxy said it's not always best to max out in top gear, I think there's a couple of corners where the revs in the gear I chose really suit it well, but I will give 280 - 310 a go tomorrow as well and see if the extra use of the gearbox helps out.

 

[Kent]

Regarding the PWR and changing things to "even them out"...

No, you may not change the power or weight of any cars in any way!

Unless you want to run the exact same weight with less power, don't try to change a thing... You can not run more weight just to get more power.
I said to use these exact specs, not something close to them.

👍

Regarding the combo...
I'm not going to act like this was my first pick.
I don't really like the new Laguna too much.

However, I am happy to see that many of you are enjoying the selected race.

 

[kragbees]

RE: top speed
Don't assume it's necessary to use all six gears. I drove both the Viper and the GT with the top speed setting at 350km/h, and didn't use sixth gear at all. For the Viper, this felt perfect and I wasn't dropping out of the power band. The GT felt like the revs dropped too low in a few corners, and I lost power (turn 4, particularly).

I think the track is more interesting than the cars this week, tbh The old Laguna Seca was a fairly easy track, and was all about cutting the corners just perfectly. When I first drove the new Laguna, I was disappointed because it felt like a lot of the flow was gone. After spending a little time with it last night, I actually like it a lot better, because it forces you to drive it properly, and keep the car on the track. It's definitely more of a challenge

Hi Luxy,

You're right as well, but I would think making your gears longer (which you are doing), will just slow the in-gear acceleration, but I guess as long as it's in the power band, it should be faster than changing to an extra gear ?

I think I'll try 350 and my setting of the straight, and see what happens ... thank for your input !

 

[MagpieRacer]

getting faster all the time, taken about half a second off now.

T1: 18.575
T2: 36.232
T3: 55.091

still around a second in there i think.

 

[fasj6418]

god, times are so close this week...

in the first splits of luxy´s leaderboard, 15 drivers separated by just 2´5 seconds...

that´s close racing... it will be won by miliseconds...

i´m good at laguna and i hope i can put a decent time with any chevy... there´s only fords and vipers in the leaderboard...

 

[Tyre King]

*Post deleted by ME*

Not gonna sink to flaming!

Neil

 

[SHigSpeed]

Dodge Viper GTS-R Team Oreca '00 @ Laguna Seca

T1 - :18.454
T2 - :35.596
T3 - :54.436

Well after 5 laps in this car and 10 in the GT, I am .6 ahead of my GT time, so far this is the car to beat, 2 more to go . Ya know Neil, I am thinking that the exit lines should be part of the track just because if we were doing a 5 lap race for the wrs this week we'd have to drive in it, but its just a thought and I'm not a moderator...yet...lol. But the GT takes more skill that is for sure!

jump_ace

Looks like I chose the wrong car to start as well... Tried the GT and got a

T1 18.733
T3 55.037

Damn close to your GT splits.

I'll have to go and play with the Viper now...

-SHig

 

[MinorShunt]

@BTTW. Keep the opinions coming! I for one look forward to reading your posts. 👍

Regarding gearing, I agree that you don't need to use all 6 gears, but I just found in the small amount of test time I did last night, that shorter gearing worked better for me. I will of course test taller gearing. Can't argue with the results Luxy is getting!

@Puck927. Very nice time in the Ford indeed! 👍

Re: Laguna GT4 vs. Laguna GT3, the only thing I don't like about the new GT4 track is the left before going up the hill to the corkscrew. I used to get a kick out of setting up to take it flat out in GT3, and really power up the hill. But I suppose it is now more realistic. Just not as fun IMO.

I'm going to give the Viper a rest a while I think. Nothing against it mind you, I just want to give the other cars some serious consideration. The Camaro has got me intrigued a bit. I think I'll give that a flogging tonight.

Later all!

 

[Tyre King]

Thanks shunt old bean!

Have deleted my post for the greater good of the board.

Still p***ed off tho!

Neil

 

[VEXD]

I thought you would have something to say balls....


Shame i missed what it was, please feel free to pm mw with the details!

Im off to have a go at this later.

tata peeps.

Good luck.

👍

 

[KLR142]

Regarding the PWR and changing things to "even them out"...

No, you may not change the power or weight of any cars in any way!

Unless you want to run the exact same weight with less power, don't try to change a thing... You can not run more weight just to get more power.
I said to use these exact specs, not something close to them.

👍

When I said even them out, what I meant was LOWER the hp or INCREASE the weight of the Viper, giving it less of an advantage. I don't want more power, I just want the cars to be even. And I was wanting YOU to make it a change that EVERYONE had to follow. Not something just for me. It seems the Viper has a tiny bit of an advantage over the other cars...

SO, for ME, I think I'm going to run the Viper with one notch less hp. So move it up 1% instead of 2% I think in the quick tune. I'll let you all know what it is(hp) later.

And I'd love it if some other people followed suit, but I don't expect anyone too.

 

[Jump_Ace]

Well as much as I don't want you to get into the Viper SHig....your gonna LOVE it compared to the GT. I was hoping the GT would compete better against the Viper, and the Chevy's.....lol, I couldn't even manage a single 'normal' lap compared to the Viper. @KLR, I'm with u man, I wish they were more evenly balanced, perhaps Kent didn't try them out first? I dunno, but in Kent's defense the power to weight ratio is pretty darn close so they SHOULD be closer matched.....possible a GT flaw?

jump_ace

 

[Kent]

@KLR, I'm with u man, I wish they were more evenly balanced, perhaps Kent didn't try them out first? I dunno, but in Kent's defense the power to weight ratio is pretty darn close so they SHOULD be closer matched.....possible a GT flaw?

jump_ace

Nope, I didn't bother trying them out... Just got lucky on four exact guesses of what the power and weight of each car could be.

Sorry if you all feel the viper is walking away with this easily.

I can not predict how you all will race, nor how fast you can race each car.

Plus, I've learned over time now that when I give you multiple choices the fastest car is always the main one used.
Look back to that week where it was road cars on capitan... We had dozens of great cars to pick from.
However, in the end almost every last person went with the R390GT1.
Only a handful went with a different car.

So with that mind I just want to say that experience has taught me...

If people want to race a specific car, regardless of how competitive it is, they will use that car. 👍

Plus, this ties into why I have beef with long-term records keeping.

When we have records that carry from one week to the next we are all forced into using the fastest car, regardless of what it may be, we must use it in order to keep our long-term records up.

However, when each week is a new week we are given the chance to use cars that may place us lower on the list but still gain the respect of our peers through our best efforts in a slower car.

Fact is, if any of you turn in a great lap in the Camaro or Corvette, we will all recognize that and say "hey, that was an awesome vette lap"!!!

However, there is one of "us" who will not recognize that sort of thing... His name is "the computer program that puts together long term records."

@KLR...
If you do decrease the power on the viper to even out your run against the other cars, please let me know in your time submission.

I will be happy to include the difference in your car's power as to give respect for your valiant efforts at creating a "more balanced" race. 👍

I've gotta respect someone doing something like that.

 

[darkwind]

Power-to-weight may be the same or close, but you also have to factor in other things as well, such as gearing, downforce, suspension settings. Even though you can't touch these in arcade mode, I'm pretty sure they still use the GT-mode stock specs unless you change the top speed in arcade mode.

Example: In the WDS we're running Camaro's and Mustangs, street legal. The Camaro SS '00 has 615 or so HP, 602.79 torque, and weighs in at 1294KG. The Mustang SVT Cobra has 616 HP, 593.97 torque, and weight 1351kg. Clear winner from just those specs? The Camaro, because it's lighter, higher torque, and the only HP difference is 1. The actual faster car is the mustang because it's geared to use all the power is has at a much higher rev(about 1250RPM higher) and the transmission gearing is a lot more efficient for the course. Both cars have the same suspension setup and the mustang still beat out the camaro by about .159s.

However most of you might disregard the information because it's just a straight line run, but once you get past the turns, isn't it all a straight line run?