GRM Project CARS Racing League - Series 2 (LMP2)

I did a qualifier at 90% and got 8th with a low 1:18. My race laps were 1:20s and I climbed quickly, up to third, before I spun.

It is a good track for these cars.

Also we should do a night race. Those are fun.

Haven't driven one lap. Just got back from the Indy 500 this evening.

I've only been able to turn a few laps. I'm hoping to get some practice in this afternoon.

Typically no practice is not an indication of a great race. Not setting up well for protecting my 1 point lead.

I won't be able to get on until 15 or 20 minutes before race time. I'm just going to slap the Watkins Glen setup on it, raise the ride height so I don't bottom out in the corkscrew, and crank in some wing. Hopefully get a chance to set some gears. Figure to start last and try to work forward.

I got a few laps in this afternoon, I feel like I have a good line, just need to find some extra pace.

I can usually run qualifying pace laps for most of the race. The only problem with that is that my qualifying pace is slow.

Very hard to pass at Laguna. First turn and last turn. Tempting to try into the corkscrew but a wreck usually results.

Replay posted. Points updated. Schedule adjusted.

Last night was a challenging race for a number of reasons. First the room keep screwing up. On the third attempt, we just decided to run a night race. Running in the dark probably cost me 1-2 seconds a lap just from a lack of visibility, but in reality it wasn't going to dramatically change my race. The bonus is that Laguna Seca looks great in the game at twilight. This was my first night race in the game and I enjoyed it.

I screwed up what could have been a better result. I qualified last, with Argo going up a tenth on my with only a minute to go in the session. That's more a matter of pride than performance. 14 or 15 with a rolling start made no difference at all. I got a good run into T1, but over-cooked the brake zone just a bit and touched Flight (?). It didn't seem to impact his drive at all, but I setup the next couple corners to get a run out of each and try and take advantage of all the cars running close and getting held up. It worked for a lap and a half. I'm climbed up to 10th and was making good progress towards 9th. I came under the Go Pro bridge and took too much curb and high centered the car which resulted in a spin with multiple minor contacts. I got going again in last, but fairly close the next car and started running him down... only to do the exact same thing on the next lap. Ugh!

My focus from that point was to minimize mistakes and let the race come back to me. That was a challenge as for the next 5ish minutes I was dealing with a dry contact in one eye. Eventually I settled in and started closing the gap to Argo. It seemed like Argo and Flight were in a good battle for a good portion of the first half of the race. I got the gap down to about 2.5 seconds, but didn't get to take the fight to them. I jumped them on pit stops. I predicted a 34 lap race, and set my strategy to run 2 stints (20 laps and 14 laps). My theory was that I would end up faster towards the end of the race. Argo and Flight pitted a few laps before my stop. When I came in, I was in 11th. 12th came by pretty quick as I came in, next up was Flight. I had about 36 seconds as I was sitting in my pit stall. It was painful just watching that gap drop as they serviced the car. Finally I was released, I got to the end of pit lane with 4 seconds over Flight... which wasn't great because I knew he was able to turn faster laps by a good bit.

When Flight caught me, I tried to make it easy for him to get by me. My theory was that I didn't want to try and fight and potentially get damage and hurt my race. Flight came by, and I laid chase. As one of the leaders came by, Flight made a mistake and let me by. By this time, we were getting closer to the end of the race I wasn't as inclined to let Flight by a second time. So I just tried to turn consistent laps and honestly hope for a mistake. Flight politely obliged. I consolidated my 12th position. Coming around the last corner on lap 33 there were only 19 seconds of time left, I only had an 8 second gap to the car behind me... so I had to run an extra lap.

Yeah, I gave it away, gave it away, gave it away now. I had 4th and just blew it.

There are a couple glitches in the replay. Looks like a car gets stuck that wasn't in the race, and your headlights don't show that they are on, but they worked in the race.... right?

In reply to BradLTL:

I had two unexplainable snap spins, other than that everything worked fine. Headlights and what not.

My car was soooooo slow. At least 10 mph off pace down the straight. I was never in contention. Ran the whole race without a pit stop hoping to gain something... anything. Tires were 50% at the end of the race. Got roughed up by the bots repeatedly while being lapped. Totally lost focus. Finished a well deserved last.

I had a much cleaner race. I only had one stop from a collision that was a very short in and out. I went with a one stop strategy and ended up making two. But unlike the 'Ring this one was all on me. I never had any real contact with anyone.

I noticed if you set a fast lap the next lap everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Which I think is funny given you still aren't running as fast as the bots. I trailed a bot for a lap and punched by them on the straight to get the time and then the first corner let them by and tried to keep up. I couldn't. Something screwy with the AI. If you set a fast lap there better be plenty left or else.

figured out a fix yesterday for our time issue

We need to set a fixed date and time. You can't use current. It glitches the system.

Just have to set the fix day to that day at high noon.

In reply to Flight Service:

Interesting. In gt6 the bots are the opposite. Once you pass them they just fade away. Really annoying sometimes.

In reply to dean1484:

As far as the bots, it depends on the position, the AI sometimes falls back in defeat and other times will race you into the corner and hit you.

The thing with the time is your cars ability to do it. It's like the game is trying to simulate you over drove the car, yet all you did was make a pass down a straight. I believe it is a glitch in the AI. All tire temps stayed in the 210 +/- 10 range for the whole lap. Brakes stayed at ~1000. Yet it wouldn't turn or stop. I have never overheated my brakes on LMP2 so I don't know their upper limit, but tires go away less than 185 and more than 235.

I read that someone tested the AI in GT6 and found that the AI cars would clearly drive slower on the last lap. I am guessing it's to make for a more exiting race.

Ran four laps at Silverstone just to get a base setup. The Oreca actually feels pretty good here. Maybe not as pathetically slow as at Laguna. Ran a 1:55 on lap four. That means you coupe jockeys will probably be in the 1:40's.

Argo1 wrote: Ran four laps at Silverstone just to get a base setup. The Oreca actually feels pretty good here. Maybe not as pathetically slow as at Laguna. Ran a 1:55 on lap four. That means you coupe jockeys will probably be in the 1:40's.

It would be helpful if I could get some practice in, this whole having a job thing is real inconvenient.

Hopefully I'll be able to get a few laps of practice this evening.

I'm going to setup an early start / extended practice session tomorrow. I have not turned any laps yet, so I will need all the laps I can get before the race.

Just FYI...

It's going to be later tonight before I can update points and post the replay. New job means I am working out of an office and can't multitask as much anymore.

I spun a few times but I didn't crash!!!!!

Hey Brad, post the settings for next weeks race again. I need to find why the difference in handling. Thanks

I'll get that this evening. Generally I end up practicing in an online room. The quick weekend and free practice sessions don't allow you to accelerate tire wear. I don't know if that plays into any of the other physics.

Here are the room settings from last night:

https://twitter.com/bradltl_ps4/status/743620746996551680

Working on the replay. Argo's crash was a bit more innocent than it sounded.... granted he did appear to be stuck behind the Tracey Khron of bots.

Points updated. Replay is posted (its processing still, but should be up in a few minutes).