Yes, I picked the “boring” track to challenge your attention span.
In truth I selected the track variations based on distance/lap times, and running variations that we typically have not run. While the layout might be less corners, my hope is that it makes it easier for newcomers to pick it up and learn and encourages closer racing.
Since you are not challenged by the track, I expect to see perfection in your lap time.
I bailed on the 2nd race because I was already in a bad mood due to being sick, and being completely unable to cut a clean lap wasn't helping.
I'm going to try to join for this but make no guarantees. This is a bad time for me at work so I'll pretty much be coming on cold, minimal practice and tuning, if any. I ran a few laps tonight and my average was in the high 1:20's and was all over the place. I'll probably try some of the tuning recommendations tomorrow, but at this point am just hoping not to be the one to cause the big one.
That was interesting.
The missing 20 minutes, where I was apparently sitting in the garage, was a disconnect of some kind where I couldn't get back in the session, but I could watch myself just ... dawdling. Reset the PS4, dug my way back through and finally managed to get in session again.
1:20.5. That's not too awful. 
My general tuning tips for these cars:
I've managed to get down to an 18.3, but still not in Spool territory. Not sure where I find another 1.5 seconds.
In reply to oldrotarydriver :
I saw you disconnect right before the start of the race. Once the race starts, you aren’t able to join the session. That’s probably where you were hanging out in the garage. You should have been able to hit the monitor and watch along.
This should help as well. Watching this today, I actually just realized I had a setting backwards. Maybe that will help me get a bit more speed and try and keep Spool in sight for a lap or so....
BradLTL said:In reply to oldrotarydriver :
I saw you disconnect right before the start of the race. Once the race starts, you aren’t able to join the session. That’s probably where you were hanging out in the garage. You should have been able to hit the monitor and watch along.
Yeah, still getting used to the PS4 / PC2 interfaces. There it was, this big shiny red placard that had been selected somehow, saying "Return to Lobby" or some such, and I pushed the wrong controller key. Out I went in sim-land, while shrieking in real time (and startling the dogs) "WTF just happened!?!"
There are days I'd lose a debate with the gal pal's cat. Last night was one of those events. ;-)
Yes, the interface for PC2, leaves a bit to be desired. It's pretty easy to get confused or click the wrong thing. A lot of times you cannot even tell which item is highlighted and you are about to click.
Heck, at work the other day, they have a pretty bad interface also... clicked the wrong one:
Probably missing the race because I got called into work. Should get home just in time for qualifying to end.
Post race report: Pitted and retired after 7 minutes, car undriveable after getting shunted by an AI at turn 5 during the opening lap. Spent the next few laps trying to get the handle on it, but it would snap oversteer if you even looked at a curb.
C'est la guerre est c'est la vie. 
I *might* have found the missing 4 seconds. Will test the theory tomorrow.
My race, actually went about how I expected. I was thinking that I was going to be battling for P2, and turns out I finished P2. The only difference was I figured Spool would run off and leave us, and then we would battle for P2; instead no-Spool and we all got to fight for the win. I'm about to watch the replay but even before that, massive credit to Sauce for the win. He spun on lap 2 and ended up back in 11th and fought his way back to the front.
I had the pace to win except I apparently didn't tip the race director as much as Air did.
Qualifying went great. I did 1 run, with 2 hot laps. First hot lap was an 18.6, provisional pole. Then my second was a 17.8, the fastest lap I've turned at the track and again provisional pole. Not wanting to fatigue myself, I parked it. For the next 12 minutes or so of the qualifying session I had a 0.3+ gap to P2. Then literally on the last lap Sauce threw down a 17.7 and took it from me.
The start of the race went pretty ok. I got on the outside of T1 and sled a bit, but managed to gather it back up only giving up 1 position to Air (this would prove a problem later). From there the plan was to follow Air and Sauce around until they made mistakes. Overtaking on this track can be tricky, and I didn't want to press too much too early. On lap 2, Sauce over cooked it into "Old Hairpin" and took a ride. That allowed Air and I by. I gave Air a little extra room so I didn't plow into the back of him (hard to judge braking without brake lights), but not enough room for him to feel too comfortable. I wanted to stay close until he opened the door and then I would try and get by him. It took a lap or 2 but eventually he went a bit wide and I got a run going down the final straight into the chicane. I had inside position and was fully ahead by the turn in to the chicane. Air tried to maximize his speed through to try and fight back, but misjudged it and caught my back tire. We both spun. That was fine. I dropped into 1st gear and took off again. We had a decent gap to P3, so I just didn't want to give up that position. I got back going and started off... and then I noticed Air's secret weapon. The a-hole race director, said I had to 30 seconds to return to P2. I make a clean pass, get spun, rejoin, and I get the penalty? I wasn't happy, but there was nothing for it. So, I sat on the front straight waiting for a car to come pass me. I wonder if Sauce would have caught me if I could have just taken off and kept those 10ish seconds... probably, but we'll never know. Finally, Air and his new found AI friend come and pass me. Yea, I ended up giving up 2 positions and not just 1. Heads down, and get going. I start after them again. Catch up to Air and pass him going into McLeans... "This is the Race Director, you have 30 seconds to return to Position 3". I really hate this guy. Fine, here Air, have your position back again. Air runs off and passes the bot, I chase after and pass the bot, and am chasing Air for the third time now. This time he runs wide all on his own and I am meticulous about keeping every little bit of my car within the lines of the track and proceed to pass him. This time I am allowed to keep my position.
The first 10 minutes of my race was "Battle for the lead", the second 10 was "Keep the lead", and the last 10 was "Don't screw this up". Now, that I'm in first, let's just keep it. Lap, lap, a little mistake, lap, another little mistake... "Slow down to avoid penalty", lap, "Slow down to avoid penalty"... Oh look... there goes Sauce. How the hell did he get here? Sauce cruises by me while I'm avoiding a penalty. I look at the bright side. He has a 3 second penalty currently, all I have to do is keep it within 3 seconds and I'll still win. So, off we go. Lap, lap, "Slow down..." #$%&!!!, lap, 2 second penalty. Come on. Now Sauce is like 4 seconds ahead of me and I have a 2 second penalty.
Fine, let's go faster and push a bit. Lap, lap, lap... gap is steady. Lap, lap, oh e36m3... spin. Oh, look there goes Argo. Oh hell no, he was talking junk about being faster than me, there is no way I'm letting him beat me in this race. Head's down, go fast time. Gap down to 2 seconds, down to 1.5, down to 0.7, Argo makes a mistake. Boom, back in P2 with 2 minutes to go. Run away time. Looks like Argo cut a corner or something because on the last lap he got a nice 36 second penalty. No worries now, just cruise to the finish.
Anyway, it was a good race. Those cars are initially tricky to drive, but once you get them sorted, they are a lot of fun.
I had a lot of fun last night, though it definitely took a while to get comfortable in the car and with the track. In practice and the beginning of qualifying I was pushing too hard and overdriving, once I dialed that back a bit and adjusted a couple of brake points things kinda came together for me towards the end of qualifying.
The race started pretty much how I expected, kept it clean for one lap and then promptly made a mistake under braking and went into lawn mower mode. I got back on track in 11th place and started working my way through the AI, then put 2 off and went back to 11th again. Between the Brad/Air/race director drama and some AI cars taking themselves out I got back in the race pretty quickly and found myself in 6th only a few seconds away from the leaders. Some time later I came up on the lead pack approaching Cossico which turned out to be moving very slowly and it caught me a bit off guard. I ducked inside to avoid rear ending Air (I think), made it through without issue and came out in 2nd behind Brad. I followed him for a lap or two until he had to slow down for a cut corner and I passed him. After that my race was pretty uneventful, without traffic I got into a decent rhythm and the battles behind and my dad, er, the race director, kept anyone from closing the gap.
I was really surprised by the results and the fact that I managed to have such a clean race overall, one spin and two corner cuts was by far the best I've done in any session I've ever run in the game, and most have been much shorter. It's unfortunate how intrusive the race director is, without that interference I think Brad would have won pretty easily. I might have closed the gap, but being out front without traffic and a decent lead I doubt he would make the mistakes he did in trying to catch up.
My race was basically hosed by an AI driver getting out of Sauces way, and into mine! Put me into the wall. The first few laps where pretty exciting though. I spent the rest of the race playing with the AI drivers and they can be A-holes sometimes. Of note: pushing an AI car out of your way when you are both in open wheel cars is not a good idea!
Next weeks track is a bit wider, a lot easier to see the corners, and does have VERY prominent curbs (more like anti-tank barriers!) on the tighter corners. If you do want to experiment with turning of the track Nazi (can you even do that?), this would be a good track to do it with.
There’s a couple things we can do with the RD:
We had DT penalties for the GT3 series and a few practice sessions. Ignoring a DT penalty doesn’t seem to change the race results.
My concern with turning them off altogether is qualifying. If you cut a corner and set a fast time, it might be accepted. We’d need to test if track limits still apply.
Here’s a better track map for next week (the blue line):
Sorry guys, I completely forgot about the race.
Spoolpigeon said:Sorry guys, I completely forgot about the race.
I'd say you were missed, but...
jj said:Why on a week night?
That’s a longer story than you would think, but let’s just say it’s always been this way.
Wednesdays and Sundays seem to work best for most people. If there is enough interest, we could run a Sunday series as well. We do/did that with the GT series.
More likely people are around on a weeknight. Spool has a GTS thing on Sunday. I have not heard from Dean lately, so I don't know if he is still doing Sunday nights with GT6 (I have generally been busy on Sunday nights).
If Dean wants to jump over to PC2 for Sunday, I was thinking we could run an open room to play with various cars / scenarios and try to scout / evaluate potential new participants. A bit more open form. Maybe even switch between GTS and PC2? (try and find out what GTS is better with).
The next track has some interesting challenges. Some very rear engined unfriendly corners with curved braking zones! Make sure you brakes are well forward. There definitely is some potential for some out braking happening.
Yes, Snetterton is a challenging circuit. That Coram/ Murrays section is very difficult. I remember it from one of the previous sims - don't remember if it was PC1 or GTR2. You have to brake while turning and try to line up for a good exit from Murrays as it is followed by a long straight.
There seems to be universal agreement about the dislike of the Nazi race director and his penalties. I got the worst of it this week. I crossed the finish line in 3rd and was dropped to 8th by a 34 second penalty on the last lap. My crime? Missing my turn in point and running wide on the grass. I had already had to slow down to avoid penalties several times during the race for similar offenses that did not gain me an advantage. If the penalties were for unfairly gaining an advantage that would be fine. That is not what is happening. You get a penalty for spinning out, getting shunted off by an AI car, killing your exit speed by running in the grass, etc. Takes the enjoyment out of racing. We ran all the previous GT series (3,4,5,6) with penalties turned off without issue and no real abuse. We can do the same in PC2. I say turn it all off including drive thru penalties. Let's race.
My race, except for the time penalty, was fun. At the start we all cleared turn one without incident. I had to back off while Brad did some landscaping. We went down the hill side by side and I miss judged my entry into Old Hairpin and spun off. That put me back in 12th. I spent the rest of the race playing catch up and working through the AI cars up to 3rd, then 2nd when Brad spun off. The AI cars are slow into some corners and slow down when they are battling each other. Fun to do a lot of passing.
One suggestion for everyone for experience / practice is to try the Ginneta Junior and Formula Rookie League races. They are both the first of the league races. The Ginneta handles a bit like the Formula Rookie (not as tail heavy of course) and runs on some of the tracks we will use for this series.
You also may get to experience some rain and snow racing! I am doing the Clio cup now, and yes, it's still as wild as our practices were! (it's one crazy handling car)
Apparently, I have to travel for work next week, so I may be looking for a Guest DJ (Host). Air? Argo? My plan B is to take my laptop and use Remote Play to launch the session. I won't be able to race either way, but another host would eliminate the risk of the a disconnect from the Holiday Inn's wifi.
I say drop the penalties and race dick, err, director and just save the race replay in case any incidents need reviewing. We did that forever with the GT leagues.
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