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

So the "big one" as they say in Nascar, came on lap 1 turn 3. Let's break it down, shall we?

Coming out of turn 2, I was in the lead and had the desirable line going down the back straight. It didn't take long for the draft pack to close the lead. The pack split 3-wide with bump drafting in effect.

As we entered turn 3, everyone seemed to take a slightly different line...

Nick and partner ended up on the ideal line, I stayed high to attempt to avoid contact. Note concealer's car attitude.

It appeared from the replay that concealer's car started to wash out and pushed up into the driver's side rear of my car. Also note Apex and Cam both into the wall on their own.

The contact, just like Nascar, sent me into a wicked slide. My rear contacted the outter wall, and I threw up a nice smoke screen to limit visibility to everyone behind me.

3 cars escaped, but the slide set of a chain reaction behind them.

Cars went low to attempt to avoid being collected, but as my car slide down the track it just kept pushing them lower and lower...

By the time TJ caught up, he had to take to the support road... it didn't help.

Chaos continued on...

I met TJ door to door. I like to think my driver was giving his driver the "Top Gun" salute! :)

By this point I had contacted the outside and inside walls and had damage on 3 corners of my car. I attempted to continue lapping with the damage (and my wheel at 90 degrees off axis) but the car wouldn't get over 120mph. So I had to pit for repairs.

Thanks to those who dropped though, I collected 5th place points instead of 8th. Every little bit helps!

Also, this was clearly a racing incident. Nothing intentional, no penalties, etc.

I should have won this race. I clearly had the fastest car. Even without the benefit of a draft I set fast lap of the race on lap 11, and then bettered it on lap 15. Moral victories.

I didn't think there was a question about penalties or intentional contact. Just a racing incident.

I feel your pain Brad, I am confident that I would've won the SBC race even with the fact that I put myself at the back of the pack at the start (didn't understand how the qualifying worked - would've started front row if I hadn't left the track.) That was probally the only track where I'll have an advantage with the Marcos. Driving with damage is just not a lot of fun for me and after suffering and fighting the car for the entire SBC race I just wasn't going to do it for the entire MX5 race too. This is supposed to be fun and when I found I wasn't having any I left. Ended up doing a bunch of wreck free shuffle races after watching a Netflix movie. Had fun there so the evening wasn't all bad.

That's me in the orange with yellow-green wheels BTW, not RMD.

Looking forward to next week.

You know that you can pit and get repaired right?

I was actually surprised that you and Apex didn't catch and pass me. You were gaining the entire second half of the SBC race. Once I lost Nick's draft I lost 15mph on the straights and was a sitting duck to anyone who could get there... thankfully the laps ran out.

We resume normal service next week.

There wasn't a question about any penalties, I just wanted to say it to eliminate any doubt.

I had to pit in the SBC race after hobbling for the first 8 laps. My own fault though after I hit 160 on the back stretch and didn't have enough brakes to haul it down to 120 for the corner.

I was reeling people in after I repaired though, just ran out of laps.

Yeah there you go Ben, so eat it! I should be e kicking you in the nuts and I like the color combo!

haha I just look back and see RealMini up my rear end but see smoke and cars all over the track, sucks that just left me and Mini to play but we were close all the way to the finish.

SBC race, I just tried to keep it under control haha Chimp and I had a hell of a battle in the last quarter, that was fun! Brad, you and I kept battling it out too, but once you lost my draft I noticed then I could catch up to Chimp faster. And again us invisible bros, didn't see Apex lol

Weird.... that's nothing like what it looked like from my screen. When it all went bad i was sandwiched with literally inches of space to both sides of me. Nick and the green car were both rubbing on my left side, and i was rubbing brad on the right side. From my screen it wasn't even half that spread out at the point of contact.

But the replay don't lie i guess, and apologies to all those involved.

Got replay footage of when i got taken out in both races? I still want to hit Nick where it hurts.

Can you share the replay? I want to watch them both. Does that include stats as to fastest lap times and all that? I was ripping off some pretty fast laps before i dropped.

BradLTL wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Hope that big wreck in the MX5 race wasn't my fault... tried to stay away from everyone, it was a big pack and bump fest.

The one who smelt it, dealt it? Uh huh. I've got my breakdown of the incident coming up as soon as the pictures export.

LOL!

Nah, i just saw that you were the first to spin, and you were right on my door when it happened. I knew it was a bump from me that put you out, but i was getting pushed up there, too. My internet was quite obviously wonky since it dropped me right after i got spun out of first 2-3 laps later, so there may have been some lag or other weirdness going on.

Sure was a good NASCAR race, though, wasn't it?

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: But the replay don't lie i guess, and apologies to all those involved.

No worries man. It's all in fun and I'm sure that there were more contributing factors that I couldn't pick out on the replay.

If we run another oval, we'll need to increase the laps. If you are involved in any incident you have no chance of catching up without running long enough for everyone else to have to pit for tires. Still not a good chance of winning with that setup, but at least you'll get to an opportunity to catch back up to the lead pack.

BradLTL wrote: You know that you can pit and get repaired right?

Yeah, I've done that in all the other races. Didn't want to lose the time in the SBC race as I figured I could still catch back up for a half way decent finish.

In the MX5 race it was too much like deja vu from the SBC race. Sure I made it safely through 2 corners instead of getting swept up in the very first corner like SBC, but I'd just had enough by then.

NickF40 wrote: haha I just look back and see RealMini up my rear end but see smoke and cars all over the track, sucks that just left me and Mini to play but we were close all the way to the finish.

Wait... was i invisible for the next couple laps? I was ahead of you guys on quite a few occasions after the big wreck.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I still want to hit Nick where it hurts.

bahahaha

I'm the only green MX5.....but no I didn't see you at all after that wreck, I saw you behind all caught up in it then you exited out of the room. You weren't invisible to me lol

NickF40 wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I still want to hit Nick where it hurts.

bahahaha I'm the only green MX5.....but no I didn't see you at all after that wreck, I saw you behind all caught up in it then you exited out of the room. You weren't invisible to me lol

Lol that explains it... i was in there for another 2-3 laps, dicing it up with you and the other guy for first. I was in first, saw you come down off the bank into me, then i spun out.

I'm blaming my internet for all the shenanigans, then.

hahaha all it was was Mini and I. I am sorry for that but at the same time, I didn't see you sooo...There was no glitching but yeah looks like most of us had server problems and getting disconnected and causing mayhem. Until they get the servers in Japan all sorted out....

Like I said, you were all visible and on the track for me, without of course Apex, which has been invisible since the start of the season lol

Well now that i know i was invisible, i'm not mad for getting punted.

Wonder if i was invisible in the SBC race, too?

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Well now that i know i was invisible, i'm not mad for getting punted.

Everyone was visible from my prospective, and I never noticed you moving to the front. Nick and RMD swapped about twice a lap though.

BradLTL wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Well now that i know i was invisible, i'm not mad for getting punted.

Everyone was visible from my prospective, and I never noticed you moving to the front. Nick and RMD swapped about twice a lap though.

Weird. I was showing me in first numerous times before i got dropped. I made it to first about half a lap after the big nascar wreck, caught a sweet draft on the next straight.

Wonder if Derve saw me when he creamed me in the SBC race.

Hahaha Ben, your full of e36m3 i guess its like when TJ, RMD, and I were racing and it shown TJ won when it was RMD, he won that I saw.

But your name and car was visible to me! And in SBC that Smelica was smashed hahah so who knows whats going on!!

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Wonder if Derve saw me when he creamed me in the SBC race.

Yeah I saw you twitch then cut down on me and go flying off into the weeds

DaveEstey wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Wonder if Derve saw me when he creamed me in the SBC race.

Yeah I saw you twitch then cut down on me and go flying off into the weeds

My Celica? Twitch? NEVAR, good sir!

In the SBC, I screwed up turn 1, lap 1. My yellow Alpine got loose, snapped back and forth a couple times fiercely, and sorry for tagging you off your line, TJ. I smacked the wall, and had a pull for the rest of the race.

In MX5, that was me in the purple with green wheels. Ben, I saw you swapping the lead a few times before the "big one". Everyone was visible to me. I had fun running at the front for a change. I'll admit to trying to set Nick up on the last lap, but on turn 3, I got loose and lost the draft.

You wouldn't believe the alignment I threw into the car to make it anywhere near manageable. -.75 toe in the rear is the stat that stands out most.

NickF40 wrote: SBC race, I just tried to keep it under control haha Chimp and I had a hell of a battle in the last quarter, that was fun! Brad, you and I kept battling it out too, but once you lost my draft I noticed then I could catch up to Chimp faster. And again us invisible bros, didn't see Apex lol

Yeah that was the most unexpected battle ever! I wasn't paying attention because you were far back, so I relaxed a bit and was talking/watching tv a little (ya know, because ovals are boring) and next thing I know, Nick blows my doors off! Suddenly, it stopped being boring! That was a pretty good fight. I was way better off on the straights but I think nick could corner about 5mph faster than I could. Had this been Daytona, I would've had it a bit easier! Then again, screw Daytona, that was fun!

RealMiniDriver wrote: In the SBC, I screwed up turn 1, lap 1. My yellow Alpine got loose, snapped back and forth a couple times fiercely, and sorry for tagging you off your line, TJ. I smacked the wall, and had a pull for the rest of the race. In MX5, that was me in the purple with green wheels. Ben, I saw you swapping the lead a few times before the "big one". Everyone was visible to me. I had fun running at the front for a change. I'll admit to trying to set Nick up on the last lap, but on turn 3, I got loose and lost the draft.

Yeah... i'm bummed about that race majorly. I think i had a hot setup for that track on my MX5.

Oh well!

PS: Gonna share the Celica again... i tried Nick's alignment settings, and it didn't do much. That said... when i borrowed Nick's car, i was over half a second slower around Indy than i was in the Celica, too. So, it may just be my driving, but he DID say that it sucked, too.

I may give my former car a go and see how it does for me. It'll be this weekend or early next week before I get a chance though.

Oddly it should have been ok when it came to you. I won the Japanese championship with it and minimal tuning.

Brad, i think i'm getting to the point where i realize that i just can't be as competitive in GT5 on the normal controller as i could be in GT4. If you look back at the old GT4 thread, i smoked all comers consistently.

But, i also don't doubt that i screwed up the suspension something fierce, i'm just no faster no matter how i tweak it.

It was pretty decent when you gave it to me, but it also had a LOT less power then, and was only on the static sports suspension setup i think. It's faster now by a long shot, just near impossible for me to control. I can crank off a fast lap with it, but trying to crack off 2, let alone 3 laps fast with it without crashing seems to be near impossible. Though at the end of the SBC race on wednesday, i was starting to make up time pretty well.

I'm a lot better with the Miata, because it's a lot easier to drive. Easier to throw it around without it getting bent all out of shape and biting me in the ass.