Greboth

@phil bottle maybe this should be your reminder to turn off the auto off timer then 😆

This weeks races were a good selection @phil bottlemixing up fast and technical across the 3. Race 1 - Blue Moon Bay oval 30 laps Gr.3 We raced this track a few weeks ago but a much shorter race and without tyre wear or fuel usage. I'd used the GTR before and thanks to my Not Matt Racing livery I was going to use it again. I done a little practise to know that 10 lap old super softs were still faster than fresh racing hards and with fuel in the GTR only lasting 11-12 laps I'd settled on doing 3 stints of 10 laps each. My strategy was a gamble though based on an assumption others wouldn't be running super softs meaning I could lap quicker. Though it was risky as if I got caught in the pack then the tow would nullify my tyre advantage and 2 pitstops meant I was open to being challenged if someone eked out 15 laps of fuel and doing 1 stop. Phil had left fuel and tyre usage on for qualifying so experience and tactics came in to play, burn as much fuel as possible then pit for new tyres, no fuel and then go for a qualifying lap. Again this was a gamble as a tow helps but catching people at the wrong point of the oval does cost time and I'd only have 2 or 3 laps of actual qualifying. I got a good first lap to get provisional pole and was going better on my second but messed it up allowing Kiwi to take provisional pole. I knew a faster lap was possible so a quick dive in the pits for another new set of super softs saw me take pole. On to the race, the first corner was going to be a big deciding point of the race for me - you start getting a tow around 1 second back in GT Sport, if I could break that I was going to be in good shape. Thankfully I nailed T1 and staring at the gap to second; 1 second, 1.1 seconds, 1.2 seconds. I'd nailed T1 and got a good enough run out of it that second place wasn't in the two. After this it was a simple case of drive as fast as possible and I pulled out, I think, about 6 seconds over the first 10 laps and sticking to plan I pitted. This dropped me to the back of the field so it was now time to see how everyone else's pit stops would fall. Over the next few laps everyone pitted giving the lead back to me though I think some had stretched to lap 13 or 14 which was a concern if it could be stretched to finish without another pit stop. Lap 20 came and my second stop, this dropped me to 4th but I was gaining enough on the cars in front to know I could catch them before the end. Though without pitstops I doubt I would be able to break the tow so it would then be free for all for who could get the best tow for the line. Thankfully my gamble paid off as just as I caught up to, I think, Mike he pitted, then Kiwi pitted leaving me to chase Lee. I think I got within a few seconds and then Lee also pulled in to the pits. After this it was just keeping it clean to take the win. For all the only tuning left jokes, it ended up being quite a tactical race and one I didn't know how it would end up until Lee pitted near the end. The highlight of this race though had to be Mike asking me what tyres I would be using for me to say round ones 🤣 It was also good to see @Misneach_ bagging himself another podium. Race 2 - Sardegna Track A 7 laps Gr.4 ...or the Peugeot convention. In the quick practise going in to this race, I got the fastest time but Kiwi was close behind. Come qualifying I did a Bottas, I set the initial pace getting provisional pole but though I'd gone faster in practise I bottled my lap whereas Kiwi nailed his to take pole by just over 0.1 seconds. A few hiccoughs with getting the race started but eventually we got it sorted. From practise I knew I had the pace to get passed Kiwi but equally I know how well he can defend and it's easy to lose time and not be able to get passed. I think it was lap 1 Kiwi made a mistake on the fast left hander running wide giving me the easy lead but a mistake at the last corner allowed him to tow up behind me down the straight meaning a battle was on my hands. I left a little room open going in to the hairpin in the middle of the lap which Kiwi took taking the lead again. I think at this I followed Kiwi for the rest of the lap eventually getting passed again going in to the last hairpin where Kiwi ran a little wide giving me a gap. I think a few more mistakes from Kiwi left me unchallenged for the rest of the race. Race 3 - Kyoto Yamigawa + Miyabi 5 laps Gr4 We'd done quite a bit of practise of this track on Friday after GTA so most of us knew the track quite well. Both Mike and Lee had gotten close in practise prior to Tuesday so I knew I couldn't rest on my laurels. Come qualifying though I think both failed to nail their laps giving me pole bu ~1.5 seconds. With my pace and a short number of laps it was going to be relatively easy win so when Lee told me slow down the end of lap 1 I did...well that was a mistake. This put me in the pack with Lee, Mike and Kiwi meaning I couldn't run me normal lines or normal pace. Due to some battling at the start of lap 4 I was 3rd about 1.5 seconds off Mike in the lead but at this point I'd managed to drop Kiwi a little. Over the course of the lap both Lee and I caught up to Mike with Lee taking 2nd and me taking the lead at turn 6. With lots of corners to go I was counting my chickens just yet but sadly Lee got a penalty at the double hairpins giving me a little breathing room and allowing Mike to get 2nd right at the end.

It’s easy enough to find a list of cars in game so stick them in a spreadsheet and you could quickly work out which manufactures have a car in the desired classes. That’s going to be the interesting choice though. The balancing of the cars in each class and which overall is the ‘best’. The gr4 Peugeot is great but rarely the fastest in gr3. Between those 2 classes alone it would be tough choice between Peugeot, Audi, Toyota, Porsche, Jaguar and Lexus (maybe more as I can’t remember every car in the game). Add in other classes and it becomes a much finer balancing act, Have I been smug? I’ve been a dick but I like to think I’m a consistent dick; win or lose.

Makes sense, see what everyone else thinks though. I love gr3 and gr4 cars but racing a wider selection if classes would be interesting.

OMG I have to do an extra click to access the forum. Unacceptable! Looks good mate, really highlights the extra things this place does other than just a forum.

It's racing so you know I'm down for this. A couple of questions spring to mind though; Is this on top of the Tuesday races or will this league race replace a Tuesday race? Tuesday's is a race for fun night where anyone can join but it makes sense for a league to have fixed entries. It makes sense to factor in someone might miss a race or 2 but less so that someone may only enter a race or 2. I assume by choosing a manufacturer, we would be racing different classes throughout the league? If we're sticking to a similar style to the official GT Sport manufacturers cup, will this be just Gr3 and Gr4? As not every manufacturer has a car in each - Alfa Romeo springs to mind as they have the 4C in Gr4 but not Gr3 car. The vast majority do though so not really an issue but worth noting. You mention sharing power levels? Are you planning on specific restrictions other than the standard BoP? Can you explain the grand final thing a bit more? So the points through the 12 race season only count for entry in to the grand finale race? Or do the points give a season champion but the grand finale is similar to the race of champions, where you get all the individual season champions together to decide a champion of champions so to speak?

I'm down with being more strict with the times if it means we get more races (or longer races) each week. With small exceptions for 'just let me finish this lap' or comfort breaks, I say stick to those times.

Following on from the Not Matt Racing livery above, it would only be right to create it for the Blue Moon Bay race as that where it all started. So I present to you, NMR98 and NMR99 now in resplendent red, white and blue. On a side note, it also means I now have 2 GTR's as I couldn't work out how to put different liveries on the same car in one scene so had to buy a second one 😆

I think most people by now have seen my FG Porsche but for those who haven't The newest addition to my garage is my Lexus painted in NMR colours - that's Not Matt Racing 😄 Which will definitely be making an appearance on a Gr3 car for this weeks Blue Moon Bay race.

With how quick Blue Moon Bay is we could do all 3 though prefence would be 2 and 3.

So as it turns out, there's something about text that svg files don't like. So I've re-uploaded the FG website with versions that will now work in game. @Misneach_ updated your ones too so they'll work now too.

EA have done the shooter versions of Star Wars. It would cool to see something different, maybe like new KOTOR?

Seems I'm in good company in this thread as I went for the index. For me this was driven by it's one of the few HMD's that fit as my IPD (basically the distance between your eyes) is ~70-71mm and most HMD's top out in the 60's. Though I also went for the index for the buy right buy once motto as at the time it was the best (And arguably still is). Though if you're looking at the Rift S, I thought the facebook profile thing was coming in but if you already had an Oculus account it would carry on or something like that? It isn't something I looked too deeply in to though so there's a good chance I'm wrong. Sadly no HMD is perfect; between God rays, chromatic aberration, resolutions, black levels, refresh rates etc. each one has some negative about it. The Rift S does get recommended a lot though and, anecdotally, I'd say when I was looking all recommendations were for the Rift S or Index depending on budget. So assuming the Rift S would fit, I don't you'd be disappointed with it.

@Misneach_ done, added the infinity logo separate and with a black outline. I've also added your name with the red T's with your name over 2 lines or all on one line with black and white text so take your pick.

TCS is a good idea to begin with but when your comfortable with it’s worth turning it down. Depending on the car, I’d say off or 1 should be the aim. The only tip I can think to add is turn off cones / markers / racing line. They can be helpful if you have no experience of a track but quickly become a hindrance as you don’t actually learn a track. Drive the first few laps with it on but note where they are using the marker boards or things around the circuit such as the marked holes in barriers, start of kerbs, flag indicators, trees etc. You can also combine these to build up a map of the track in your head giving you a better idea of braking points if your in another cars tow or off line trying an overtake or defending. It will also help when you drive a track you know in a different class.

Race 1 - Catalunya Gr.3 I don't dislike this track as much as some though since they added the chicane in the last sector it is very mickey mouse. I wish more games would give the option of running the Moto GP layout which does (did?) run the older double right handers rather than the chicane. A pretty quiet race night for me all told, qualifying started off badly with a penalty on my first flying lap meaning I was about a second off my pace. Lap 2 of qualifying saw me get a good lap in, a few tenths off my PB but good enough pole which was going to be important as Phil had said it was to be a rolling start. Lee had me worried at the start though he gained 1.5-2 tenths down the straight as I think the Peugeot is fast in a straight line but a tow helped but thankfully Lee didn't go full Mike. I knew my laps were faster than Lee so it then was a case of keeping it clean to avoid any offs or a penalty. Race 2 - Dragon Trail Seaside Gr2 Again contrary to some, I don't particularly like this track, to be quick means taking specific lines which get even slightly wrong means a spin or the wall. Still, a few laps of practice saw me get the fastest time which carried over in to qualifying. This race featured tyre wear which I'd done no practice on but thankfully it was only mediums and hard so was going to be a case of run mediums until they're dead then hards to the end. Qualifying came and similar to practice, I got pole by just over 2 seconds so stupid me though easy win....until the race start. Unlike Catalunya this was a standing start which I messed up royally and bogged down losing a few places and in the pack going through the chicane lost a couple more putting me down in 5th or 6th by the end of the first sector of lap 1. Still I knew my laps were faster and 13 laps would be enough to make that up if I didn't hang around so I went straight on the offensive. I got back up to 4th by the line and right on the tail of Kiwi in third while Mike was trying to make a break in the lead and Lee holding second and claiming he was going to do all he could to hold up Kiwi and myself. Then T1 of lap 2 came, my plan was to follow Kiwi through T1 and try an overtake at the chicane or following hairpin but Kiwi braked considerably more than I expected so a quick dive to the inside avoided heavy contact but still saw some door to door and Kiwi running a bit wide. At the same time Lee was stacking it in to the barriers to meaning up to second I went. At this point I think was 6 or 7 seconds behind Mike and I think it was lap 5 I sneaked passed and then held the lead until the end.

I can give you 2 tips for manual gears. Change up when you redline. Change down when you're braking. The End. I jest but changing up is exactly that really, change up as you get to the redline. Though it will cost you time if you hit the limiter so don't. Some cars also benefit from changing up before red line but generally, it will be at redline. Changing down, this is basically tap downshift while braking. There's a rhythm to downshifting and the specific timing you'll need to experiment with - basically if you change too fast you'll over rev the car (which while no damage in GT Sport, it can cause you to spin) so time your downshifts that when you downshift you're roughly back at the redline. Once you figure out the timing you should be alright.

Like you Lee, my favourite tracks are ones I win on too.....so that would be all except Blue Moon Bay 🤣 I enjoy almost all tracks in gt sport though I think some depend on the right cars. The stand outs for me are Spa Francochamps, Suzuka, Brands Hatch, Kyoto, Maggiore, Alsace and Dragon Trail seaside. In Gr3 or 4 cars they’re all quite fast flowing tracks but with a mix of elevation, off camber, late or double apex corners etc. that provide a challenge too.

After Lee suggested having FG skins for our racing cars, Mike asked for the FG logo. As there’s no way to share in game you’ll need to upload it yourself Logo's currently made; I've also made 2 website decals, one lowercase and one all caps. Download; https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nb4yntiqnvmba97/AAA0q7UuMdnadYsdEDpnPkW6a?dl=0 If you need any other logos / versions of the FG logo let me know. I’ll keep the dropbox updated so it can act as a logo pack for us all. You need to go to the gt sport website to upload. Specific instructions on how to upload to follow shortly.

I believe it should now and forever be referred to as The NOT MATT! NOT MATT! incident 😆 My thoughts on the races; Race 1 - Blue Moon Bay oval GR3 This was always going to be a tricky one to hold the lead on due the slipstreaming and there basically being no corners to ever pull a large enough lead on. Qualifying was as expected close with it seemingly coming down to a bit of luck of who was getting a tow at the rights parts of the lap without being hindered at others. In the middle of qualifying I managed to time it perfectly, getting a tow from Mike out of turn 1 down to turn 3 then, taking a different line through the final corner, a tow all the way to the finish line too. On the race, as said, this was going to be tricky but Kiwi, Mike and I broke away then proceeded to battle amongst ourselves swapping positions a number of times each lap. It was obvious after a few laps it was going to come down to position on the final lap and through the final corner. Going on the final lap, I deliberately held back across the start/finish line so I could be behind both Mike and Kiwi coming out of Turn 1. Unfortunately Lee caught us up at the point too so I had to slot in behind him but no worries, plenty of time to draft passed. Going in to the last corner, it was a copy of my pole lap, I took a different line so I didn't catch Lee up mid corner but could get a good run out of it and a tow to the line. A mix of not quite being close enough and Lee moving break the tow to Mike and to block me ... bloody blocking cheater mumble mumble mumble not salty 😠😆... I ended up bump drafting Lee across the finish line. I'm not a fan of ovals but it was a fun race and great to see Lee get a win. Race 2 - Interlagos Gr4 A tricky race for me, I'd done a few laps practice to decide which was the fastest car but hadn't managed to do any testing for fuel or tyres. I took a gamble on the fastest car, the Peugeot RCZ and thanks to an off hand comment from Phil about tyres not necessarily making it through the race, I switched to softs, rather than super softs, and managed to get the fastest time in practice. So the decision was made, I was going to qualify and race softs. Qualifying came and went and I managed to stick on pole. The race begin and held the lead without a real challenge from Kiwi though had a worrying moment when I saw I wouldn't have enough fuel but thankfully it was just the game being rubbish at calculating remaining fuel at the beginning of a race. I kept it clean and put in some fast laps to open up the gap over Kiwi then just managed it. The last lap was tricky though due to tyre wear as the softs were ruined and going by comments of others the super softs were even worse. Race 3 - Goodwood Minis What a laugh, Phil set it up to use racing tyres and without tyre wear we all went with Racing Super softs. As it turns out, the means cornering hard will cause the mini to roll over on to 2 wheels which was further exacerbated by the high kerbs round Goodwood. I set the early pace in qualifying then Kiwi got a faster lap but I knew I could go faster if I could keep the Mini on 4 wheels. Then on the penultimate lap, with some tiny steering inputs, I got the pole back. In to the race, similar to race 2, I got away reasonably well but down the long 'straight' Kiwi caught me up but due to sticking a wheel on the grass and almost spinning / spinning it gave me the chance to break away. After that it was just a case of taking it easy and keeping far away from kerbs. Race 4 - Brands Hatch Gr3 As this was a random race at the end with no practice it was always going to play to my strengths of having one of the top amount of experience with this game, tracks and cars. Though it was going to be frustrating for most as Brands Hatch is a tricky circuit especially the rookies going in to it blind. Qualifying went well and though I could have gone faster, the last few laps of qualifying were all ruined by getting penalties but I still managed to get pole so can't complain. On to the race, I think it was Lee who lined up second and got a good start and clearly was going to overtake me round the outside of T1. Not a problem, I'm fast enough to get the lead back over the rest of the race and at the point I got nicely punted by, I think, Kiwi costing me a few more places. I fought back and caught back up to Lee just in time to see him throw it all away at T1 😞 Another bump from Kiwi saw me lose a little more time and me take a BTCC approach to get back passed (well it is Brands Hatch after all). I picked up a 1 second penalty at some point too but after all of this I was right behind Mike going on to the final lap. Knowing I couldn't slow down to get rid of the penalty and keep up with Mike, I decided to go for it and try to open up the gap. Due to a messy Turn 4 for both of us with a bit of contact, I got my penalty time down to 0.003 seconds and managed to take the lead in to turn 5. After that, I nailed all the fast right turns meaning I could easily lift out the last corner to get rid of the last little but of my penalty.

We're supposed to practice? 😕

Always good to welcome more to the PC gaming 🙂 I'd disagree with Ren though about going prebuilt, while there is more hassle in building your own at your budget I'm almost certain it will be cheaper (or a better spec) and the warranty on individual parts is usually equal or longer to that offered by system builders. GPU - Parts are a pain at the moment but as James said an RTX3070 (or AMD 6800, maybe 6700 depending on benchmarks) at minimum should see you sorted for a good few years. Obviously if you want to splash the cash there's always a 3080 too. Or even simpler - buy the highest card up this list as your budget allows; https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html CPU - To disagree with Phil here, I think this is AMD all the way. The Ryzen 5000 series CPU's beat Intel in everything so that's what I'd be looking at. The numbering scheme is pretty simple; for your budget buy the highest number you can. Or, again, simpler - buy the highest CPU up this list as your budget allows; https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html Motherboard - will depend on which CPU you go for though I'd be aiming for middle of the road on price here. Top end has everything typically but is overkill unless you're pushing voltages and overclocks etc. The cheap end tend to use not so great caps and vrm's and some with no coolers on them either. Basically after that you're just looking to make sure they have the features you want (enough sata ports for however many drives you want, 3 or 6 audio jacks or optical, enough usb ports etc.) RAM - 16Gb 3200Mhz still seems to the be sweet sport for price and performance. 16Gb is the minimum I'd recommend but should see you good for a few years and somewhere you can save some £ now as it's easy enough to add another 16Gb in a few years if you find you need it. Power Supply / PSU - 650W should be enough though I'd probably say go for 750W as you'd be in a more efficient range of the PSU. PSU's are a pain though as every brand has good and bad ones, Corsair, SuperFlower and Seasonic generally fair the best but not all their PSU's are good. Find a few in your budget and google for reviews, there's usually full teardown reviews of them and it should let you know if it that model is a good one or not. Storage - NVMe for Windows, 500Gb as an absolute minimum but 1tb would be better. After that, it depends what you want to store and how much. Case - This will depend on where you want to put it though other factors to consider are to make sure it can fit your motherboard size (itx, m-atx, atx or e-atx - the motherboard listing will tell you). After that it's just down to how many drives you want, front panel usb's etc. Some cases come with front panel card readers which can be useful as it saves digging out cables camera's all the time. The final thing to consider is CPU cooling - depending on the route you choose you need to make sure it will fit. Almost all cases will list maximum height for air cooler and fan/radiator support for AIO liquid coolers. Monitor - As already said 1440p is the sweet spot still. 4k is still a bit out of reach for gaming at good refresh rates but 1440p isn't plus it's a nice resolution bump over 1080p. If you want it for photography, I'd look at one with good colour accuracy which generally speaking means an IPS monitor. However there are good TN and VA panels too so similar to PSU's this will be best done by googling for review of specific monitors.

Yeah, last September I got a Valve Index so different but basically the same and I can confirm they are awesome! I've mostly been sticking to sim racing with it but I've played a few other games. Like you I've also tried TV/movies on it though I've been meaning to sort out a better seat so I can watch a whole movie as I really want to watch the Star Wars original trilogy in 4k in VR.

Outside of the usual bath sets, t-shirts, chocolate and jelly beans the most notable was a new lens for my camera (slight fllex 😛) and a blend your own whisky set; where they give you a few different tasting whiskys (smokey, fruity etc.) and the stuff to blend them. So that's going to be some tasty to try out 🙂

I just completed this quiz. My Score 50/100 My Time 156 seconds