GRM - Gran Turismo 5 Racing League - Series 3

Autolex wrote: my PSN is Autolex84

New Meat! New Meat! New Meat!

Come on in, the water is fine. We could use a few more regulars.

As noted, many time there is not a "perfect" car choice, you just want to make sure it is a car that you can drive well. A fast car that you cannot control well will get you nowhere in these races. There have been many races where a steady constant run will beat out what might be a faster car.

As an example, I didn't do much research into the Hot Hatch series (I generally hate FWD cars) so I figured I would just make sure I had some power and figure it out. Brad suggested the Focus to me because it seemed to like to swing it's tail out for him and I am a rear-engined kind of guy. I really didn't want to go with it because it is far heavier then most all the other cars... but it worked out for me because I have managed to make it drive the way I like it too (not tail out, but I can deal with it).

Same thing happened in the Small Bore class we had. I jumped on the Europa because I like the cars, they are mid-engined and I didn't want to do a lot of research. Turns out the car drive JUST like I like it, but that was really just lucky.

Also, make sure you tune the car for your tastes, that can make a big difference (although it can't make a nose heavy FWD car drive like a rear-engined one)

In reply to Autolex:

Glad to have you join us Autolex. Are you going to run @ Sukuba in HH and Z06 tomorrow night. The series before this one was about 1/3 over when I first entered. Anyway, hope to see you there.

aircooled wrote:

Autolex wrote: my PSN is Autolex84

New Meat! New Meat! New Meat! Come on in, the water is fine. We could use a few more regulars. As noted, many time there is not a "perfect" car choice, you just want to make sure it is a car that you can drive well. A fast car that you cannot control well will get you nowhere in these races. There have been many races where a steady constant run will beat out what might be a faster car. As an example, I didn't do much research into the Hot Hatch series (I generally hate FWD cars) so I figured I would just make sure I had some power and figure it out. Brad suggested the Focus to me because it seemed to like to swing it's tail out for him and I am a rear-engined kind of guy. I really didn't want to go with it because it is far heavier then most all the other cars... but it worked out for me because I have managed to make it drive the way I like it too (not tail out, but I can deal with it). Same thing happened in the Small Bore class we had. I jumped on the Europa because I like the cars, they are mid-engined and I didn't want to do a lot of research. Turns out the car drive JUST like I like it, but that was really just lucky. Also, make sure you tune the car for your tastes, that can make a big difference (although it can't make a nose heavy FWD car drive like a rear-engined one)

Going along with this, I picked the IS-F because I think the 8 speed tranny and excellent torque make this thing utterly FASTER than any other similarly equipped vehicle that fits in the rules (although the M5 is a close second!)

Graefin10 wrote: In reply to Autolex: Glad to have you join us Autolex. Are you going to run @ Sukuba in HH and Z06 tomorrow night. The series before this one was about 1/3 over when I first entered. Anyway, hope to see you there.

I am going to attempt it, but I am installing some laminate flooring this week and my SO might nix it... That's why I am thinking I may just start fresh with season 4... :)

Come on Autolex, it will only take an hour or two and are you really going to be working on your flooring tonight? I'll gift you a car for hh if you need one.

I did my first three laps at Suzuka in the Z06 this morning. It's a bit faster than the hh cars.

Also, I ran the Seasonal Event World Compact Car races with my Mx-5 from last series. Wow, I remember after coming out of the SBC cars the MX-5 seemed fast. Go drive yours now and see....it is amazingly slow and low powered.

T.J. wrote: Come on Autolex, it will only take an hour or two and are you really going to be working on your flooring tonight? I'll gift you a car for hh if you need one.

I have a HH setup C30, and the required Z06 too... I guess it depends on how much I get done this afternoon!

Looking probable that I will be missing the first race tonight. possibly the whole night.

Poop!

A couple things for tonight...

• You likely won't have to worry about making on track passes. There is ample opportunity for other drivers to screw up.
• There is a transmission trick (for both classes) which can save a good amount of time per lap. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I would recommend spending some time specifically setting up your transmission.
• HH will be all about Sector 1. Z06 will be all about the rest of the track.
• For HH I had to make a diff change. I kept spinning the outside wheel and losing traction. This is the first track that I noticed that happening. You might want to watch for that as well.
• Between my transmission trick and the diff change, I dropped 1 second for my lap times.

Trail braking into turn 1 will be fun to watch.

To me, it seems like turn 8 and 9 are critical since they can go very right and also very wrong. Of course being able to bomb through 14 is a requirement (I don't even know if you can do it without breaking in either class yet).

I did a few laps practice at lunch, I think I have my gearing right. I left a good amount of headroom for HH thinking those straights might make for some good drafting.

Z06 should be fun, it's a good track for them. HH is a bit more tricky, you have to be real careful to turn in on time for 8 and 9.

I also did a quick setup of an Audi R6 and no, it won't loose the weight, it is still 125kg heavy, but it's a fall back. At least its a wagon, so that makes it cool.

I discovered what I think might be the brake balance issue that I was having. If you are using a wheel you can set the balance during a race (almost never used normally, but VERY useful in shuffle races) and it seems like the game will now ignore any of those changes between races. Just make sure the brakes are set correctly on the Setting screen and you should be fine.

I should be in my lobby around 5(6,7,8):15 if anyone wants to do some laps.

Just as Turdbeast liked the last course, it does not like this one. Few practice laps I've done and I can't keep it on the track. Should be interesting to say the least.

I'm thinking of running the Challenger SRT8 for the GT class, it's a bit heavier than the other GTs, but I really like driving it. Ducks into corners quite well with no ABS. Still no idea on Saloons, but I've got enough of them that it doesn't really matter.

Its up at 1472 6118 3830 2745 2836

Well.

Zo6 race: My Vette went nuckin futz. No idea why, but that car was out of control for the entire race. However, my plan of staying in the race no matter what my car is doing is paying off yet again.

HH: I thought, because of how it was acting during practice & the hot laps, that Turdbeast was going to be a pissy little monster just like the Vette. This might be the first time I've ever had a car handle better in the race than in practice. I was doing fantastically until the biggest drawback to using roof cam made itself apparant: No rearview mirror, so I didn't see Aircooleds Focus passing on the inside and bumped him just enough to get damage.. As it turns out, the longer you drive a car with suspension damage, the worse the pull gets, and the car went crazy leaving a turn and I went all the way across the track and plowed into a wall. Had some decent back and forth with RMD later on, but my tires were completely gone by the end, so he left me in the dust at the finish.

Here are some HH pics from tonight:

Heading into T1 the first time, you can see that we had a decent sized field this week. All is looking pretty good at this point.

A few cars go wide mostly staying in that nice paved runoff area. Ghosting ensues.

Griz(Baelworker) takes the lead coming out of T1 and a couple turns later has a small gap on the rest of the field. Here is eveyone else other than Griz who is already past this camera: 2nd and 3rd place were two firstimers for our series. I was tucked in at 4th, somehow managing to not actually make contact, but yet stay within an inch or two. Brad is on my tail at this point and Aircooled in the Orange Focus of Doom is behind him.

FastC6guy and AutoElex go a little wide in the second set of esses, but neither gets stuck in the deep stuff, and they both get back on track retaining P2 and P3.

Until the second half of the esses, where they both again go wide and lose some positions. Myself, Brad, Aircooled, and Nick are all lined up waiting to take advantage of their off.

GrizBael ran a good first lap and was out front, followed by me....until I started my mistakes. I didn't take pics of them because it was too painful to watch, but suffice to say I went from a nice cozy 2nd to 6th after not braking for T1 twice and running off in the sand on the tricky complex in the middle of the track.

It took me a lap or two to catch back up to RealMiniDriver in his cool coppery Volvo with matching coppery wheels (what color is that BTW - I like it). I caught him in the braking zone for the chicane, but wasn't close enough to try for a pass. I decided to wait and try to draft by on the straight, but lo and behold I cut the corner a bit too much and earned a sc penalty. Chased him down for the whole next lap. Finally managed to get a good run on him coming into the same spot a lap (or two) later, and took the inside position away from him under braking: This looks like it's not going to work out so well, but RMD gave me room and I slowed enough to stay to the right and we made it through without any contact. I had a tiny lead after the first turn to the right since I was on the inside, but RMD was better positioned for the upcoming left hander and I was less than a car length ahead so I couldn't cut in front of him. Coming out of the left hander I tried to duck behind him and try to take him on the outside of the right hander leading onto the front straight. It worked and I lead him down the front straight. It took me 3 laps, but I finally got him....then I missed my braking point at T1 and went off giving the spot back up.

He went off later in the lap and got some serious sand action so I was able to get ahead of him with a little breathing room.
Here is a gratuitous shot of my hard working pit crew. I pitted on lap 7 because my tires were about half worn and I was getting slower. Graefin pitted just in front of me - he pulled out of his pit box as I pulled into mine. Grae was running 3rd at the time behind Aircooled and Nick who both elected not to pit. RMD pitted as I was leaving.

I think around lap 9 I realized that my fastest lap was about 6 seconds off my fastest practice lap and decided I'd better get on with it and concentrate. I was almost a minute off the lead and something like 15 or so seconds out of 3rd. I pulled of a series of good laps and set the fastest lap of the race...if I can't win I can at least say that I guess. Grae passed Nick with his failing front tires and eventually I did too. Grae caught up to Aircooled and after a decent battle, AC went a little wide and found the dreaded sandbox, putting Grae in the lead. This was either the last lap or lap 13 I don't remember now. By the time Aircooled got himself out of the sand pit, I was closing in on him quickly. I got close enough that I could see him in the distance on the back straight and by the time we got to the chicane I was close enough to be part of his background in this image:

One more turn and I could've caught him - his tires were so gone he was more or less rolling on the rims at that point, but as it was the finish line was right there and AC stuck it out for 2nd.

As far as the Vette race goes, Apex and I both thought we were the car right behind Bael/griz heading into T1. A little door to door contact knocked me way off line to the inside and totally caught me off guard. I was a bit shocked to collide at that point of the track at that point in the race, and as a result plowed into Baelgriz's rear end giving us both damage. I limped around for the first lap and pitted with Baelgriz right behind me. Then I figured it was going to be a long race driving around by myself for 13 more laps....I went off in the essess and was frustrated at damaging my car again so early in the race so I quit and spectated. No pics of that race from me.

BradLTL wrote: - There is a transmission trick (for both classes) which can save a good amount of time per lap. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I would recommend spending some time specifically setting up your transmission.

Brad, what was your secret anyway? I know I radically changed my final drive ratio from last week in the DC5 and I think it helped out a lot. I could keep my revs higher when I shifted this way, especially if I waiting to shift until just before the rev limiter. I played arounf a bit with my LSD setting as well. Some corners I would tend to get inside wheelspin and some I'd get outside spin...I couldn't really figure out which was better or worse so eventually quit messing with it.

Tonight turned out much better for me than I expected.

Z06: My first lap of qual. was .1 better than my best lap in testing so I parked it and waited for the start. That way I get to rest my hands and hopefully they won't "go to sleep" and get numb. You may have wondered why I seldom run a lot of warm up/qual. laps. My time was a 1:59.8. I don't think that was too bad a lap so I assume the field was reversed for the start but I really don't know. I had to stay to the outside into T1 so came out at the rear of the field after T1. I was able to fall into my rhythm and slowly made my way up to 3rd. I stayed there until Brad had an off and air got by then Apex's fatigue started rearing it's head around L9 and he started doing some serious playing and stopped trying to finish. I can empathize with him and I'm sure all of us can. Trying to concentrate @ that level for that long after the stresses of the day is far from easy huh guys? I kept running as fast as I safely could till the end but Air held on for P1 and I got a surprising second. Hmmm., only 4 finishers. Did the rest of you quit or loose internet connection?

HH: I really didn't practice as much as I usually do this week and didn't know exactly how the tires on the Volvo would hold up but I had enough practice to know that my best hope was to "smoke em if you got em" and shred the first set of tires, pit, and then shred the second set. This time Air decided to try for a no stopper. He almost pulled it off too. When I finally got by Nick on L12 I really began to push to try to catch Air. I knew the Focus could be hard on tires but I didn't really think I could make up that much distance in only two laps. I kept my focus on the track and hitting my marks and cutting as fine a line as I dared. At the end of L13 I could see that I actually had a shot @ reeling him in so I kept at it and when he saw I had much better pace as I came up to him he made it easy for me coming out of the hairpin. I'd have to say that this was my best race yet. I had several close calls but kept it on the track and got no penalties. However, I don't recall the lap but I'd probably be called to the GT5 hauler after the race if it had been a real race because of the shenanigans I got into trying to pass Grizz and then coming back onto the track to try to keep from getting a sc penalty at the last chicanne. This caused both Nick and my cars to ghost but apparently neither had damage or a penalty. Grizz and I did a parrallel tandem half spin going into the first rt. hander. Looked pretty cool on replay. Lot's of smoke.

Autolex, not a bad showing for the first time running with this group.

Some of the posts tonight were about how "lame" Speed's Wed. night TV line up was. I posted how "unlame" the GRM GT5 series is and suggested that they warm up their PS3's and join us on Wed. night. I also said "if they could see the replays they would be tempted". You know, we actually might be able to increase the turn out by doing that. Did anyone know who "One fast C6" is? He entered and ran most of the HH race tonight in a blue Focus. I watched him on replay a little bit and doubt he had much experience in it. Anyway, IMO full fields are always better so what can we do to fill up the vacancies? Would it help to post the replays? Do any of you know anyone who might be interested? T.J., you said you might sit out the next one and Brad I'm not sure if you intend to run after the next one. Personally, I'd like to see the series continue if possible.

Graefin10 wrote: Autolex, not a bad showing for the first time running with this group.

no one seemed to notice that I was sh-hammered. next week I promise to have less than a .08 BAC...

Autolex wrote:

Graefin10 wrote: Autolex, not a bad showing for the first time running with this group.

no one seemed to notice that I was sh-hammered. next week I promise to have less than a .08 BAC...

I watched you on the replay and you weren't showing your condition. I wasn't sure if you were using a wheel or a controller.

Graefin10 wrote:

Autolex wrote:

Graefin10 wrote: Autolex, not a bad showing for the first time running with this group.

no one seemed to notice that I was sh-hammered. next week I promise to have less than a .08 BAC...

I watched you on the replay and you weren't showing your condition. I wasn't sure if you were using a wheel or a controller.

Controller, internet started getting really laggy so I dropped. I will be back next race though! I really enjoyed the little I practiced and played with you guys! :)

Blah.

My internet hates me, which sucks, because i think the little Clio is actually quite fast. Getting dropped for the Z06 race didn't bother me, the car was having none of it the entire practice session anyways.

I've had better weeks.

Z06 - the wife and baby were attacking me during the race. They came down to watch for a bit, sat on my hip and my boy kept kicking, grabbing and head-butting me during the race. Needless to say, I made a few mistakes.

HH - Attack of the wrong tires. It wasn't comforts, it was Sports Hards. Not sure if I actually started the race on them or not (I'll have to check the replay) but I picked them up on lap 2 during my pit stop. During lap 1 I got tapped in the rear at some point and had some damage I figured I could live with. Going up the hill towards 130R, I was drafting ac and we were about to pass apex... my car got a sudden pull. I put wheels on the grass, and slammed into the wall at about 160. That sent me bouncing off the guardrail the other direction and I collected apex in my mess. Sorry about that apex, but I really didn't have any control at that moment. Pit stops came and as I entered, I read the tires as "Sports...." and clicked ok. I was in a hurry because I wanted to apologize to apex for ruining his race. After the pit, I just couldn't get in a good rhythm. I would hit my brake points and slide off the track, the car was twitchy and all over the place. I started to watch my lap times and I was running in the 2:35-38s, or almost 20 seconds slower than practice and qualifying. I figured that something must be up with my tires, so I pitted again. This time I got the softs on and the car became much more drivable; although at this point it didn't much matter.

If anyone is wondering, SH tires do not last longer than SS. They actually seemed to go off much faster probably because the lack of grip meant that I kept doing massive burnouts in every corner.

T.J. wrote: Brad, what was your secret anyway?

To make 3rd gear really long so that through the esses you are always in your power band.

Graefin10 wrote: Did anyone know who "One fast C6" is? He entered and ran most of the HH race tonight in a blue Focus. I watched him on replay a little bit and doubt he had much experience in it.

Yes, he is a friend of mine, his name is Nathan. He didn't have any experience in the car or racing online. This was his first online race. In fact, I was on the phone with him walking him through buying it and setting it up in the break between the Z06 and HH race. I gave him my setup from my RS, I figured it had to be better than the default settings. It seemed pretty quick.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Blah. My internet hates me, which sucks, because i think the little Clio is actually quite fast. Getting dropped for the Z06 race didn't bother me, the car was having none of it the entire practice session anyways.

Yea, when you dropped your car became a missile and nearly took me out at max speed.

BradLTL wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Blah. My internet hates me, which sucks, because i think the little Clio is actually quite fast. Getting dropped for the Z06 race didn't bother me, the car was having none of it the entire practice session anyways.

Yea, when you dropped your car became a missile and nearly took me out at max speed.

Weird, because on my screen, i passed you about a lap before i got booted.