What did you do in FM23 today?

  • Thread starter DextroCat
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@ShavedBadger Your description of the '13 is both hilarious and accurate! To be completely fair though, it was the silliest choice for that series, especially over the rather excellent GT350. And the Saleen is simply set up way too stiffly for a track like Sunset. It would work pretty well at a tighter track with lots of quick direction changes but Sunset needs stability over responsiveness.

Anyway, wrapped up the NASCAR series over the weekend, and I have to say, well done to Turn 10! That was one of the best single player racing experiences I've had in some time. If I had a complaint it might be that the races could have been longer. Now I'll have to work on some cool obscure retro paint jobs for those cars, I really like them.

Anyway, on to the next series, despite prior warnings, I took the Mustang. Like every car in that class, soften the boingers and sway bars a bit, move all the geometry sliders about 3-4 clicks to the left, and crank the aero, it's fine. With a little more work it's more than fine but that'll keep it mostly planted and not heading towarss the barriers. Modern race tires would help the laptimes a bit (well, more than a bit) but would also reduce the cars mad power-sliding charm.
 
I finished the showcase race with the Saleen: Too heavy, too skinny tires for the power at the back, and lots of understeering (their legal department likes that), and you have to drive under the constrains of the A class limit. This car belongs in S so you can lose about 350 pounds (!) of weight with upgrades and fit a tunable suspension (power and transmission is just fine).
 
@ShavedBadger Your description of the '13 is both hilarious and accurate! To be completely fair though, it was the silliest choice for that series, especially over the rather excellent GT350. And the Saleen is simply set up way too stiffly for a track like Sunset. It would work pretty well at a tighter track with lots of quick direction changes but Sunset needs stability over responsiveness.

Anyway, wrapped up the NASCAR series over the weekend, and I have to say, well done to Turn 10! That was one of the best single player racing experiences I've had in some time. If I had a complaint it might be that the races could have been longer. Now I'll have to work on some cool obscure retro paint jobs for those cars, I really like them.

Anyway, on to the next series, despite prior warnings, I took the Mustang. Like every car in that class, soften the boingers and sway bars a bit, move all the geometry sliders about 3-4 clicks to the left, and crank the aero, it's fine. With a little more work it's more than fine but that'll keep it mostly planted and not heading towarss the barriers. Modern race tires would help the laptimes a bit (well, more than a bit) but would also reduce the cars mad power-sliding charm.
Thanks!

Don't get me wrong, I picked it precisely because it was the anti-GT350, and because it's perhaps closer to my perception of the essence or spirit of what a tuned Mustang should be. And I'm a sucker for supercharged V8's - I own one in real life. Blower whine and that sense of runaway freight train acceleration is highly addictive.

NASCAR up next, and just for something completely different, I've chosen the Mustang. Again.
 
I have been working steadily on the game. Today I worked on a fifth Lamborghini to get the full discount on purchases. I did 8 laps of the Old Mulsanne Circuit getting the car from Lv21 to Lv29. In the process I hit Level 1000 so I am now Level 1 Prestige (?) 1!
Congrats on the Level 1000, apart from the usual 35,000 credits, did you get anything beyond that?
 
Ran the Corvette DPi One make series. I call it that because I never saw a Ford in any of the four races. After I was 2.5 seconds behind the target practice time for race 1 I backed difficulty down to 4 just in case they had messed with it as they did in the American LeMans series. Apart from Daytona all of the races were about as they should be on level 5. I had to fight and scrap to win and I think they biggest margin I had was just under 3 seconds. Daytona was an anomaly because the AI piled up at turn 2, lap 2 and never recovered and I won that one by 11 seconds.

The Beretta is my favorite of the Trans Am cars because it doesn't have the roll cage obstructing the view like the others do. I might use that one some more down the road.
 
Completed the American Le Man series last night using the Ford - had the difficulty on Level 5 and started in 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th on the grid for the four races and won each fairly comfortably. Was a nice touch doing the Sunset course at sunset but those first couple of laps going into turn 1 trying get near the apex without hitting the wall with the sun in your eyes was a nightmare. 😎

Then there was the showcase event - another awful car to drive for this event. Was only drivable with full downforce on the front and rear wings. Difficulty level 5, started 8th and managed to win by a second or two. If you can stick close enough to them through the end of the lap, I found the best place to pass was up the inside of the turn 2 hairpin.
 
Did 14 laps of the Old Mulsanne Circuit in my Aventador to get my fifth Lamborghini to Level 50. Inevitably it hit Lv 50 (from Lap 36) on Lap 13. I set it with one other driver and made about 95K. I hit Lv 11 (Prestige 1) and was presented with 5 new sets of “Electrifying” Driver Wear.
 
I earned the Mobil 1 Red Pegasus suit in Rivals by driving the Toyota Trueno around the short track of Maple Valley at night during a downpour, which looked superb on Series X (performance RT) with a locked framerate.
 
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🤔 there's a major issue with the Daytona Prototype series, but i can't think what it might be... /s
20241201_110848.jpg

DON'T USE THE FORD!!!
 
This game is very fond of Chevys. The conspiracy theorist in me suspects that maybe the manufacturer dropped a lot of money on T10 to ensure their vehicles outperform the Fords in two-make races.
 
Did the NASCAR series over the weekend - even downloaded the Apple Music app and had the old Sega Daytona USA sountrack cranked while blasting around Daytona.

Overall the NASCAR series was great fun, I really enjoyed the various aspects of racing those big lairy things around almost every track in the series, except Eagle Rock, or scrub city as I came to know it. I've never liked that track in any of its mediocre configurations. It's boring, ugly and only punishes with endless dreary understeer. Seriously, screw that excuse for a track.

I do have a new-found respect for Homestead though - the infield circuit is a bit meh but they've got a really nice oval track, and I was just able to make a one-stop strategy work there for an easy victory.
 
This game is very fond of Chevys. The conspiracy theorist in me suspects that maybe the manufacturer dropped a lot of money on T10 to ensure their vehicles outperform the Fords in two-make races.
There's definitely a bias, I only buy Featured cars or cars I need for specific events and I've magically got 17 Chevys - bring on the European seasons I say!!
 
Today I finally earned the Hennessey Exorcist. I was surprised because it handles quite reasonably for its power/weight ratio... but then I probably had the most horrific accident I've had in the game with a long slide and a rollover (6 turns at least), so... RIP me and the Exorcist. 💀
 
I'm up to date with the career's mode so I reverted back to the Rivals section last night - upgraded my 1983 Golf GTi to D class and have set times on the first 21 layouts, only 49 to go....
 
Did the NASCAR series over the weekend - even downloaded the Apple Music app and had the old Sega Daytona USA sountrack cranked while blasting around Daytona.

Overall the NASCAR series was great fun, I really enjoyed the various aspects of racing those big lairy things around almost every track in the series, except Eagle Rock, or scrub city as I came to know it. I've never liked that track in any of its mediocre configurations. It's boring, ugly and only punishes with endless dreary understeer. Seriously, screw that excuse for a track.

I do have a new-found respect for Homestead though - the infield circuit is a bit meh but they've got a really nice oval track, and I was just able to make a one-stop strategy work there for an easy victory.
You can get some good races on Eagle Rock. Requires a different approach to driving and car setup, even then it's more nerve-racking than fun. But yeah, given my druthers I'm doing an oval race at Homestead or Indy any day of the week before ER. Or Daytona or Sunset, for that matter.
 
American Road Racing has to be the worst series in the history of the game, with the worst trio of ugly tractors I have driven so far. I've sold all of them and I won't use them ever again. It was so bad that I started last on Road Atlanta on purpose and I just drove by to just complete the series and move on... And even then, I managed to slide and crash! :banghead:
 
You can get some good races on Eagle Rock. Requires a different approach to driving and car setup, even then it's more nerve-racking than fun. But yeah, given my druthers I'm doing an oval race at Homestead or Indy any day of the week before ER. Or Daytona or Sunset, for that matter.
I just can't stand it. Maybe in really low-powered, low grip stuff you could figure out a way to extract fun from it, but I hate it. The only moment even approaching fun was when I accidentally got my Nascar into a huge slide on entry to one of the two corners and ended up drifting all the way around the outside at a ridiculous angle, but even then it just cost me time so I went back to being grumpy as soon as the slide was corrected.
 
American Road Racing has to be the worst series in the history of the game, with the worst trio of ugly tractors I have driven so far. I've sold all of them and I won't use them ever again. It was so bad that I started last on Road Atlanta on purpose and I just drove by to just complete the series and move on... And even then, I managed to slide and crash! :banghead:
Completely agree. We all understand road cars starting off a bit rough and they improve over the series as you slowly upgrade them but some of these "alleged" race cars which have minimal upgrades available and are almost undriveable (especially the first race) make the game far less enjoyable. We definitely need a good six to twelve months off from any more American car series.

There are only a handful of Australian cars in the game at the moment so it'll be interesting to see what they do next week with the new update. Bathurst being the only Australian race track will also limit the options available to them.
 
Completely agree. We all understand road cars starting off a bit rough and they improve over the series as you slowly upgrade them but some of these "alleged" race cars which have minimal upgrades available and are almost undriveable (especially the first race) make the game far less enjoyable. We definitely need a good six to twelve months off from any more American car series.

There are only a handful of Australian cars in the game at the moment so it'll be interesting to see what they do next week with the new update. Bathurst being the only Australian race track will also limit the options available to them.
They could double the Australian tracks by making it playable in reverse like it is in Grid Legends ;) The reverse track was used for a recent weekly race and I thought it actually drove better in reverse. Because you are going uphill for the tricky section, i found it easier to control speed through the corners.
 
They could double the Australian tracks by making it playable in reverse like it is in Grid Legends ;) The reverse track was used for a recent weekly race and I thought it actually drove better in reverse. Because you are going uphill for the tricky section, i found it easier to control speed through the corners.
It may be easier to get an early lead down that long straight too.
 
Completely agree. We all understand road cars starting off a bit rough and they improve over the series as you slowly upgrade them but some of these "alleged" race cars which have minimal upgrades available and are almost undriveable (especially the first race) make the game far less enjoyable. We definitely need a good six to twelve months off from any more American car series.

There are only a handful of Australian cars in the game at the moment so it'll be interesting to see what they do next week with the new update. Bathurst being the only Australian race track will also limit the options available to them.
I'd like to see a "Historic Road & Track" tour, with say:

Bathurst
Spa
Le Mans
Nordschleife

Based on the theme of former/part time public roads.
They could double the Australian tracks by making it playable in reverse like it is in Grid Legends ;) The reverse track was used for a recent weekly race and I thought it actually drove better in reverse. Because you are going uphill for the tricky section, i found it easier to control speed through the corners.
Sacrilege! Half the fun & challenge of Bathurst is the plunge downhill from Skyline through the esses and the dipper, then reining it all in again for Forrest Elbow.
 
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