GRM - Gran Turismo 5 racing League - Series 2 (begins 3/2/11)

T.J. wrote: That being said, it doesn't look like an instance where an overtaking car needed to be more careful or patient... ...Overall, I'd say this was an incident caused not by over-aggressive passing attempt gone bad, but by the poor visibility the game provides us to our sides. The blind spots are huge. Getting damaged early and having to pit sucks (I've been there several times myself), but I think the element of danger and uncertainty of having the damage set to high makes the racing more realistic.

Yes, well said. This series is for fun, but we do keep a score. The points are worth about as much as the points on the shows "Around the Horn" or "Who's line is it anyway" and the prizes are not anywhere as exciting as a date with Drew Carey; however... keeping score keeps it interesting.

If you are new to the series, didn't practice, or not competitive on a track, take extra care and lay off the series regulars a bit on the first lap. As they say, "You can't win in the first corner, but you can lose".

Losing a few tenths on the first lap won't ruin a race, but getting damaged, limping around the track and a 45 second pit stop will ruin a race and someone's week.

I have pics of my insane slides... can i send them to someone through the game and they can host? I promise they're worth it.

Did a bit of practice on Monza last night, some notes:

You cannot use snow or dirt tires in the rain. The game will not allow them in non-rally races, so you are stuck with comfort for SBC. Comfort tires in the rain = NO traction, pretty much like driving on ice. Yes, even worse then it was. Over shifting (especially in corners) can be your friend here.

One very strong suggestion, when the game says its time to brake for the next corner, BRAKE IMMEDIATELY! Better yet, anticipate the piont and have you foot already on the brake. If you wait half a second you will find yourself sliding helplessly into a barrier (turn 4 seems to be a prime car catcher).

It is also very hard to see when you are following someone, lots of spray. Do NOT follow close behind anyone, anywhere near a corner! You both will end up in a heap of bent car.

The rain setting will also fade to just a wet track fairly quickly, so if you want to keep it raining you have to lock it.

I am very concerned that turn 1 is going to be a massive pile up, if not on the first lap, more so on the second. When going down the straight, be VERY prepared to hit the brakes, and try to keep them from locking up. You cannot see if the tires are sliding (the tire indicator does not show red), you have to listen for it.

Good side? Well, tire wear will not be an issue. If you like to drift (I think you know who you are) you will have no tire issues here.

MX5 is not nearly as bad, you just have to be careful and more cautious in your braking.

The Europa will probably do good on this track simply because of the traction advantage. Although, even it has serious traction issue here and is pretty scary going through turn 3 on the verge of spinning (it doesn't tolerate much drift angle). I am curious how the FWD cars will do.

One more note. Doing a few test laps, my SBC lap time was about 2:35 a lap. At 11 laps, that will be a long race, we might want to knock the lap count down a bit.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I have pics of my insane slides... can i send them to someone through the game and they can host? I promise they're worth it.

You can send them to me at (make obscure to avoid a crawler picking it up):

(Ignore the underlines and spaces)

tpjunk _ @ ver_izon __ .net

aircooled wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I have pics of my insane slides... can i send them to someone through the game and they can host? I promise they're worth it.

You can send them to me at (make obscure to avoid a crawler picking it up): (Ignore the underlines and spaces) tpjunk _____ @ __ver_izon __ .net

I don't know how to get them into my email.... if i could get them to my email, i could host them. I don't have a thumb drive or anything to get them off the PS3.

Hmm, OK, you can send them to my PS3 account, Allaircooled and I can pick them up at lunch.

aircooled wrote: Hmm, OK, you can send them to my PS3 account, Allaircooled and I can pick them up at lunch.

Do i just send them in-game or something? I have no idea what i'm doing, here...

Wonder if i could upload them via the PS3 browser? Where do they get saved on the HD?

Good point, I didn't think about that.

First you need to export the picture from GT5 to a photo folder (it called XMB folder or something like that) from the photo area of GT5

Then you should be able to go to the Friends area of PS3 and create a message. There should be an option to attach a photo. Find the GT5 photo folder.

You might also be able to just send the photo from the photo section (use the menu button, triangle I think, to see the options). You may have to exit the game to get the photo send to work (it will be grayed out if you need to)

I am kind of working blind here, so I hope the above is close.

Ok, well, i'll try both methods when i get home from work.

Thanks!

I can take a look at it at lunch and give you some more info. What is your PSN name again?

PSN ID is "concealer404"

aircooled wrote: Did a bit of practice on Monza last night, some notes: The Europa will probably do good on this track simply because of the traction advantage. Although, even it has serious traction issue here and is pretty scary going through turn 3 on the verge of spinning (it doesn't tolerate much drift angle). I am curious how the FWD cars will do. One more note. Doing a few test laps, my SBC lap time was about 2:35 a lap. At 11 laps, that will be a long race, we might want to knock the lap count down a bit.

Turn 3 is the only turn where my car feels comfortable at all. I can make it around there flat. Of course that means different things based on how much wheelspin is going on at the time. In the testing last night, I concluded that it is useless to try and run an automatic tranny here in the rain. There isn't enough traction to stop the tires from spinning and the tranny won't upshift. I would get stuck in first or second and never get to third. Letting off the gas a bit would stop the spinning, but drop the rpms low enough that the tranny would not shift. With manual selected it seems best to shift way early in an attempt to limit wheel spin. In the wet I can do continuous burnouts even in 5th if I start spinning in 1st or 2nd. Shifting at 3000 rpm all the way up the wheels will never gain traction. I sometimes felt like I was hydroplaning on the straights. The car would wander back and forth a bit almost like it had some light damage. Strange.

I vote for making the rain fixed and shortening the number of laps to something more like 8 laps.

I have no idea what my SBC laptimes were, I'm not sure I ever made a clean lap.

BradLTL wrote: If you are new to the series, didn't practice, or not competitive on a track, take extra care and lay off the series regulars a bit on the first lap. As they say, "You can't win in the first corner, but you can lose". Losing a few tenths on the first lap won't ruin a race, but getting damaged, limping around the track and a 45 second pit stop will ruin a race and someone's week.

Maybe I was too diplomatic. What I was really beating around the bush and hinting at was that Dave turned into the Honda and, in my opinion, his damage was self inflicted. If he didn't run so wide in turn 1 he wouldn't have been way off line heading to T2 and wouldn't have had a car between him and the wall. Not trying to start anything, but in this case it does not appear to me to be an issue caused by someone new to the series, or someone who didn't practice enough. Just something that happened and hard to avoid based on the giant blind spots making it hard to know where someone beside you is and how much (or little) room there is.

T.J. wrote: I sometimes felt like I was hydroplaning on the straights. The car would wander back and forth a bit almost like it had some light damage. Strange...

I noticed this also. I was not sure what made it happen, but you could notice a small sway happening, but not always at the same place or speed.

Regarding the crash:

I saw the same thing. If you had to call blame you would have say Derve, but he had no real way of seeing the other car, it was just two converging paths he just happened to be the converging one.

The reason why it is any controversy is that Derve seemed pretty upset during the race because he thought he was rammed, I suspect the Honda felt the same way.

I was on the racing line and hit the apex perfectly on turn 2, he was way off line which meant instead of taking a straight shot around the wall of turn three he had to try to hook around the wall. If my car hadn't been there he wouldn't have made the turn at all. Watch the replay from inside his car.

What upset me was the fact that I was excited for a real duel with Aircooled as we had similar times. Racing AGAINST somebody is what makes this series fun. Instead I had to pit and the other person involved just quit the race entirely. Which left me doing solo laps for 30 minutes trying to make up ground.

I don't have a problem with apologizing when I'm in the wrong (as I often have been in this series). I don't think I'm wrong in this and I think if you watch his racing line you'll agree.

I was on the same line and made it through just fine. I just slowed when I saw the impending mess in an attempt to avoid getting caught up in it. At least in my car, it really makes no difference in what line is used for T2 - I could always take it flat. It is a narrow bit of track there and I would guess that 2 wide through it would only happen on lap 1 when everyone is still bunched up. You might've hit the apex perfectly, but there just happened to be a Honda there at the same time.

I understand your frustration completely Dave. I was all psyched to compete for the win at Indy. Only got in like 3 qualifying laps and set the fastest time in two of those. Due to my screw up I ended up gridding last and then got caught up with a spinning car in T1 of lap 1 and my race was over about 15 seconds into it. It just seemed likein this case it was just something that happened while racing and not anything that anyone caused through negligence or lack of care. Eventhough you got robbed of a fun and enjoyable race, at least these cars cost nothing to repair.

Like I said, my intention is not to stir the pot or beat a dead horse. It didn't effect me in any way and maybe I should've just stayed out of it all together. I'll leave it at that, and worry about trying to figure out how to drive in the rain.

Hey guys, it looks like my butt is out of this series for sure now, but i'm glad you guys are having fun! I do wish I could've left with a championship win! but I guess you can't win if you don't show up much! I might drop in from time to time, though.

Do we have an updated points total anywhere? I want to see if i'm still in last.

Rufledt - We might have need for a play by play announcer...

Celica - I just tested the PS3 email. All you have to do is to find me on your friend list and send me a message. In the message screen there is a big paperclip you can click and attach your photo there.

aircooled wrote: Rufledt - We might have need for a play by play announcer... Celica - I just tested the PS3 email. All you have to do is to find me on your friend list and send me a message. In the message screen there is a big paperclip you can click and attach your photo there.

Sweet!

I'll get those to you tonite!

CHIMP I'll miss ya man, but yeah you should announce!

and Ben, alright, you ready to have a drift competition? honestly there's no way in hell i'll be competitive!

Pictures sent!

Nick, we can do a drift competition... i'll suck, though...

That's some serious drifting there!