Big congrats to Mr @phil bottle on his win last night! I believe that this is the first race in three seasons that hasn’t been won by @Grebothor myself, so I’m pretty sure we are both going to work extra hard in next weeks race to try and restore the status quo! 😂
This weeks race seemed so simple but it was clear that from the off in practice that tactics were going to play a massive part in the outcome of the race. Drafting played a incredibly important on this track with a good draft easily saving you half a second on your lap time. From lap one it was clear that fuel saving was going to be the main strategy with Phil being the only person to say fuck it and go balls to wall every lap 😂
I’m absolutely gutted that I made my move half a lap too soon and ran out of fuel exiting the final corner!!
Missed last week due to prior commitments, and I'll be missing this week's due to a wedding! Normal service from me willresume next week 🙂
It was a shame that you missed this weeks races mate as I think you and the GT86 would have suited this track with the Toyotas low tyre wear and fuel saving capabilities!
Really enjoyed this weeks race especially the race long battle with @Greboth in our aircraft carrier length Stuttgart specials! Shoutout to @GazzaGarratt whose pace in practice and qualifying certainly worried me as I think there was even more pace there, and if you can nail the race pace as well you would be extremely difficult to catch!
The Mazda race was absolutely hilarious between @GazzaGarratt@Greboth@slamminbones@phil bottle and myself and until the last two laps it genuinely could have been any one of us who could have won it! However I am extremely glad it turned into demolition derby and I could get away 😂
I urge everybody to get on for next weeks race if they can as it will likely be one of the funniest races you will ever compete it!!!
Also, @JBR-Kiwi isn’t it about time your Mrs dropped the sprog so you miss a week or 2 😅
😂😂😂
ive been promised that I will still get Thursday nights but we shall see if that actually happens! If he doesn’t get a wriggle on then it’s looking very likely I will miss next week at least…
It was really unlucky for you fella clipping that barrier it would have been a really close race at the front between @Mikepjbell@phil bottle you and me.
Well done @phil bottle on the podium, it was a really good race and I was rather worried that I had made a mistake by choosing mediums instead of softs, but thankfully the pace (whilst slightly slower) was quicker then the hards which gave me a chance at running long.
Couldn’t give a shit about the landscape stuff but does look great and I can see people that are really into that side doing some pretty impressive pieces.
I’m not a massive fan of too many concept cars, and I really hope they don’t focus on this too much as I do enjoy a wide range of “normal actual” cars, but I do like the look of some of the old school stuff like the merc clr-gtr’s.
The racing gameplay was a bit disappointing and despite all these advances in graphical power, it really doesn’t look too different from GT Sport. I was expecting a step up in graphical “realness” and didn’t really get that impression on first view ☹️
Teams - I love the idea and it’s been good seeing how people encourage their team mates. I just think this game doesn’t support that side well enough and unless we do a relay race like suggested it’s difficult to see the benefit of this side unless the whole grid was a lot closer.
Manufacturer - Despite being one of the people that has suffered hugely because of my choice, I have really enjoyed this as it has seen a lot of strategies built around their car choices.
I would like to keep this for next season and one manufacturer, but maybe mix it up. Either;
A) lowest team/teammates get to choose first
B) whatever manufacturer you chose this season you can’t use next season
C) most of us regulars have most cars/coins you so we just get assigned a random car at each race and we do the best we can. Guaranteed to mix some races up!
Races - I’m happy to do either one or two races each week although I might miss quite a few races in this next season if little lad is difficult😭
Endurance race - not really a fan but willing to give it a try if people want a go at it (like rallying...). My worry is that long races are quite draining and a people lose a lot of interest if it isn’t close racing which is where our shorter races work so well.
Regarding your times though Kiwi, did you enable BoP?
yeah I never use Time trial if I do any practicing because to me it feels like the difference between playing on LAN vs online so it will also give you the feeling of more grip and car responsiveness when turning and on the brakes. That could be just a placebo effect of course...
If I want to try the circuit I will always try and set it up as an online lobby with BOP being the first thing turned on as I have been caught out with that before!
Looking back, I think I was struggling to exit cleanly through the corners especially onto any of the high speed straights which was punishing me massively due to the beetles poor top end.
1st race this week was an absolute disaster for me which kind of started off as early as the practice.
I had done about 5 laps the previous night to learn the circuit in GR3 and had got down very quickly into 39s which was promising and then come race day couldn’t get anywhere near that and was even struggling to break the 41sec barrier in quali.
And then the race happened...
After apparently walking under a ladder whilst smashing a mirror and crossing Luna my black cat, I got the mother load of bad luck and a reasonable start ended up with me getting knocked into the gravel at the first corner and then then unfortunately rear ended at high speed at the chicane, which left my race in tatters, especially on a track like Sardegna. Just one of those things unfortunately ☹️
2nd race was a complete surprise considering my lack of pace at Monza but I think there’s a different BOP for ovals compared to normal circuits, but either way the beetles high cornering speed really helped overcome my limits in straight line speed.
So overall a mixed result with the circuit I expected to do well in ending poorly and the oval I expected to struggle on I ended up doing well
Massive thanks go to you @phil bottle for getting everything sorted for this inaugural season. Getting all the tracks sorted and setup with the cars, tyre and fuel settings is definitely not a job I would have wanted to do so great job!
Honestly from my side it's been a brilliant season and I genuinely wouldn't have wanted to finish in any other way than for it all to go down to the last race of the season to decide the final positions. It's been great seeing all the fights all the way down the grid and I know I have said it multiple times at this point, but it's brilliant to see everyone's progress through the whole season, and how everyone has developed their own style and race craft. I know everyone has taken it seriously but at the same time it's been great to have a good laugh with everyone because at the end of the day it's only a game 🙂
@GrebothIts been great racing you this season mate and i definitely have had to up my game to get anywhere close to you especially after my slow start to the season and thinking "how fucking fast is this guy???" Looks like we might have our work cut out for us for the Summer season especially with the rate of improvement of of certain individuals! The race reports were great to have a read of when i should have been working on a Monday 😀
Roll on the Summer season and let's get a full grid every race if we can!
I went for @GazzaGarrattfor the simple reason of it has been a tough errrr “couple” of weeks in terms of results but finally looks like you cracked it and secured a brilliant result in race one on a track that isn’t forgiving at all if you make a mistake.
Second race you were also blisteringly fast and pushed me all the way until the last lap or so. Looks like @Mikepjbellshould be thanking his lucky stars that this form didn’t start a couple of races ago! 😄
Mrs will be very happy if it’s Thursday as I’m told Bake Off will be returning at some point which means avoiding a fight over the TV on Tuesday night 😂
I think everybody has become so much better over the course of the season that it’s now meant that if you make any sort of mistake you will unfortunately be punished for it, especially on a track like Laguna this week.
One lap pace from everybody is incredibly quick and you can see it in qualifying where when everybody hooks their laps up, the whole field is covered by only a couple of seconds whereas in the past you might have been talking 10+ seconds from the front to the back.
I think where people are struggling a little bit is dealing with the tyre wear and fuel management and the effect that it has on your car and your race and now, with everything being so tight, people are having to think a bit more strategically about it so we are seeing a lot of interesting strategies.
I warn you all when @GazzaGarratt finally gets everything to click he will be a monster on the track! 😄
Dropped my vote in for @crispymorgan especially after his mega quali where he managed to stick with me all the way around the Red Bull ring to snag a front row place 😄 was extremely impressive with the mother of all tows!
Whilst I made it work by running long on super softs until lap 9 at Autopolis before switching to hards plus a quick splash of fuel, it did require me to pretty much run quali pace almost all the way through in order to build a 22sec lead over @Greboth in those laps, and I think when I left the pit I only had a 0.4 sec lead over him so the hard strategy was definitely the better one to use.
I think potentially in the Gr4 class, hard tyres are not as much a penalty as in Gr3 so maybe like @GazzaGarratt says, maybe we make the lower class have a mandatory pit stop coupled with higher fuel usage/tyre wear?
Good races last night guys. Seemed like most people had very similar strategies for the league race so was a very good indication of people’s raw pace.
Monza is going to be a very interesting race especially with the potential of lots of drafting. Obviously this assumes everyone gets through the chicanes safely 😂
I still have too heavy of a foot coming out of corners and spin out 25% of the time.
🙂
@Shucker not sure if you can do this with the setup that you have mate, but I know a few of my racing friends swapped out the springs on their pedal setup for a harder spring which stopped the issue of it being too light and giving them more control on the accelerator.
I know when racing I’m the wet we used to do that for some of the younger drivers to stop them from spinning out on low speed corners when it was wet or greasy
Maybe it would be worth suggesting implementing drop scores, to help people who can’t make it to every race.
if you say that only your top 9 or 10 scores will count towards the final total then that allows anybody to still be in contention if they have to work or have internet issues etc.
only a suggestion though
but I really like the idea of this @phil bottle so well done mate. Think there will be some really close racing and it’s an extra incentive to not stop pushing in a race even if it was a poor start
I must have been the only person to actually enjoy Fuji!! 😂
Really good close races all evening with everybody and it’s showing just far everybody has come as now there is close racing all the way through the grid and lap times are relatively close
Could not get any joy out of Brands Hatch after a crash early on and Laguna Seca was a nightmare. The N100 race was funny though.
Good races, I believe there's a request for a wet track next week?
Yes I think that was my request for the wet race. Would be good to see what sort of effect it has for everybody 🙂
I enjoyed the races on Tuesday with lots of close racing up and down the grid. Lots of improvement from everybody over the last couple of weeks which is good
Posted
Big congrats to Mr @phil bottle on his win last night! I believe that this is the first race in three seasons that hasn’t been won by @Grebothor myself, so I’m pretty sure we are both going to work extra hard in next weeks race to try and restore the status quo! 😂
This weeks race seemed so simple but it was clear that from the off in practice that tactics were going to play a massive part in the outcome of the race. Drafting played a incredibly important on this track with a good draft easily saving you half a second on your lap time. From lap one it was clear that fuel saving was going to be the main strategy with Phil being the only person to say fuck it and go balls to wall every lap 😂
I’m absolutely gutted that I made my move half a lap too soon and ran out of fuel exiting the final corner!!
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