GRM - Gran Turismo 5 Racing League - Series 4

OH JOY!

I figured out why the M5s are so much nicer to drive than the rest of the garbage in saloon

Tuned mine up, 1400 kg, 646 hp, aero at 15, trans set up short for Rome. Nothing different than my Commodore.... waitaminnit, 450 ftlbs of Torque at 6800 RPM? 7 Speed means it accelerates like stink?

Well E36 M3.

I didn't even bother throwing a good suspension tune on the damn thing and I blew my best lap with the commodore out of the water in 2 timed laps. Commie makes 208 ftlbs more at around 4800, weighs exactly the same, and has E36 M3ty 6 speed setup that renders the first four gears useless. No wonder the top three finishers are all M5s.

I think I've got some work ahead of me.

I've determined that gobs of low end torque is just something i'm not interested in. In the game, or in real life.

I figure I'm going to have to play with the trans(may end up resorting to a 4 speed like setup) and add some weight to fix my traction issues.

As far as I can see, the only reasons the Commodore isn't up there with the Bimmers is because I have to Bob Costasfoot the throttle to keep from lighting up the rubber through corners and the lack of useful acceleration.

I did, however, find a stiff suspension setup that knocked 2 seconds off my best lap time, so now I'm only a second or so off Graes best.

Grizz wrote: I figure I'm going to have to play with the trans(may end up resorting to a 4 speed like setup) and add some weight to fix my traction issues. As far as I can see, the only reasons the Commodore isn't up there with the Bimmers is because I have to Bob Costasfoot the throttle to keep from lighting up the rubber through corners and the lack of useful acceleration. I did, however, find a stiff suspension setup that knocked 2 seconds off my best lap time, so now I'm only a second or so off Graes best.

Heh, this is why last race i had my Supra geared to do 90mph in 2nd. It was still dumb. Hate it.

Grizz wrote: NEIN!! Thing to be aware of: Cars do not get traction on cobblestones. I was running with Grae, the commodore couldn't get any traction until 5th gear through corners. Tonight is probably going to be a battle of whoever can keep rubber on their cars and keep out of the wall.

I've come to the same conclusion. I haven't had as much time to practice this week as I used to have. I've been working @ my Mom's house trying to get it ready for her to come home. I'll bet I've carried a ton of unused cloth she hoarded over the years out to the garage. We'll have to give it away to who ever will haul it off.

I was exhausted last night but tried to practice for a few laps. If I'm that bad tonight . . . well, I just hope I'm not. I had my day planned but my sister called wanting me to come get the rest of the cloth from upstairs. I did, but now I'm really tired again. Let's face it, we should have these races at about 10:00 a.m.

Like you said Air, get those two main sets of turns right and you can pick up a lot of lap time. In previous parctice I was nailing them after a warm up but not last night. Oh well, I hope we all have some fun tonight no matter what happens.

I had a thought for the next series, I really like the idea of everyone contributing a custom track, but I had an addition that I was wondering about, say the person who made the track also designates a PP or hp/weight limit for the track?

Thinking about it, we'd end up having to tune and setup about 10 or more cars, but it has potential.

I still like the idea of more open classes like the Saloon series, where you just have to meet hp/weight requirements, although I'd suggest lowering the HP and weight, just because the saloon is what, RWD for all but two cars? I'd say something like 1000kg and 350hp would have a lot more variety.

In reply to Grizz:

What would you do, require the track to be made available to everyone at least a full week before the race?

I figure the same way we all start testing before the series even starts, everyone is freinds, so if they put the track they want online we could all have them at the beginning.

Sounds interesting. One of the things I don't like about the custom tracks is that is is impossible to make one that doesn't have elevation changes, some of which can be pretty extreme.

They of course are also a matter up pure luck ending up with what you like (each section generated messes up the previous ones).

Anyone run any longer NASCAR oval races? I ran one the other night (32 laps at Daytona). Interesting, but I am not sure if I liked it too much. The driving was not that difficult (although the cars are very twitchy in the corners), but tires are a huge issue. You really don't want to stop if you don't absolutely have to.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Wunderbar night for me, spend two days testing my cars to get them to handle on the track, run a best of 1:11 in the DB9, and a 1:12 in the Commie, once the race starts: CRASH CONSTANTLY. First lap, first corner for GT, first lap third corner for Saloon.

I was a lap down by lap 3 for GT, my brakes didn't work, I couldn't get traction, and my best lap was 3 seconds slower than my best in practice. I had to park it after crashing at one point because I was so pissed I was about to break the controller.

Saloon was much the same, first three laps, crashed every time. I said berkeley it and quit.

That's weird. You were doing very good when I was following you in GT, pretty much the same speed as me.

I saved both replays so I just watched them both. I can't believe I hit the wall in GT in that place. That's usually so easy for me to negotiate. I didn't let all the way off the gas was the problem, then got on it to try to kick the back end around and instead it drove the front into the wall hard enough to damage my steering and unfortunately caught Hunter on the rebound. If you guys recall I made my ROC car drivable after a crash @ Moonshiner's Run by running into the guard rail on the opposite side of the original damage. So I tried it with the M3 tonight and it only made it worse. I ended up with engine damage as well as steering. The only exciting part of the race was watching Hunter try to close back up to Air.

In Saloon I launched well and got beside Air going into T1 but tried to make sure to leave him plenty of room and he got back by me before T2. Celica, I saw that your night was much like the one Grizz described, so both of you were gone within a few laps and I ran the whole race with no consequential wall contact and actually got to lead on L13 when Hunter and Air pitted and I stayed out another lap. That lap was so slow that they more than made up for it on their next few laps. Brad, T.J., RMD, Cam., & Nick, I miss you guys. It's definitely more fun to have someone to run with.

We ran a few practice laps and a couple of 2L races at Trial Mt. Reverse and I think my M3 needs a little work. I think I'm going to have to soften it up quite a bit as well and get it off the ground some more. For some reason it's much harder to brake there than it was @ Rome. I don't understand that.

Hunter and Air, the first few laps of Saloon were very intense to watch with you two going at it. It looked like you both may have sustained slight damage during the race but I'll let you guys tell your own story. I hope you do because I'd like to hear it from your perspective.

Eh, i just picked the wrong car for Saloon, no way around it. I was a bit peeved because i actually like that track and i'm somewhat good at it. This car is just utter garbage, though. I had it set to top out 2nd at 95mph, and the damn thing would still spin 2nd and 3rd gear. Useless, and completely undriveable with a controller.

I think i'm going to take the DQ hit for next week and try another car. I'm not racing this pile of junk anymore.

I completely forgot last night... its been a long week at work. I think I was in Zombie mode.

yeeeaahhh......don't even get me started.......it was just bulle36m3 to put it best.

The funny thing was, that earlier that day, I ENTERED someone else's room, so that's a start. I STAYED in that room and even raced FULL races with no real glitching and stayed in for 4 races, and here's the berkeleying fantastic bit......THERE WAS 12 PEOPLE AT ONE POINT!!! Usually 8-12 was the norm......and 3 were from Canada and there was a bloke from Norway!!! ............and I couldn't even JOIN a room with 3-5 of my friends on there....GT5 server FAIL.

i'm not sure, I mean it sounds like it would just because it's not on the open server, but making it IN your lounge my solve that wonderful problem for some of us and hopefully you'll be able to race against more of us........god almighty I hope so.......

We were racing in the lounge last night, though.

GT - Rome Reverse Results

(car exploded on trailer entering the track)

GT Standings

38 pts: Aircooled (AllAirCooled) : RX8 Type S 07'

37 pts: Greafin10: BMW M3 Coupe '07

35 pts: GTP_Spyhunter (HunterJP): BMW M3 Coupe '07

32 pts: Baelwerker: Auston Martin DB9 Coupe '06

23 pts: NickF40: Ford Mustang Mach 1 '71

10 pts: 92CelicaHalfTrac (concealer404): Toyota Supra 3.0 GT Turbo A '86

9 pts: RealMiniDriver: BMW 135i

9 pts: BradLTL: Jaguar XKR (pic needed)

Saloon / Estate Rome Reverse Results

Saloon / Estate Standings

44 pts: Aircooled (AllAirCooled): BMW M5 08

41 pts: Greafin10: BMW M5 08

32 pts: Baelwerker: Holden Commodore SS 04

30 pts: GTP_Spyhunter (HunterJP): BMW M5 08

11 pts: 92CelicaHalfTrac (concealer404): Lotus Carlton '90

10 pts: RealMiniDriver: Audi RS 6 Avant '08

7 pts: NickF40: Jaguar S-Type R 02

Yes, we were in a lounge last night. Grea set it up and I just joined in, so I am pretty sure that is what happened. Here is my summary:

GT: Looked pretty good. Bael was running really fast. I followed him for a lap or two and he was fully on pace. Large explosions were heard from the track entrance and small green bits of Mustang floated around the track, but racing had to go on.

I got my typical 1.3L start and went straight into 4rd place. As we got to the chicane, which can be tricky, and which I JUST saw Bael navigate perfectly, Bael ran straight into the outside wall!! (ouch). Followed Grea and Hunter for a bit. Then coming out of turn 1 into the straight Grea does a bit of a slide and wall tap and caught Hunter in the act... Hunter went straight into the pits and I think Grea limped around for a lap then pitted.

To be honest Grea, this is the spot the both Hunter and I tapped or were very close to tapping MANY times. I personally saw Hunter ricochet off that wall a number of times. The problem was that it was very easy to go into that corner too fast.

This is where it gets interesting. I ran around with Hunter well behind but I was also well aware that he average a good second a lap faster then I did. Mid race we both pitted. Coming out of the pits, there were about 12 laps left, and Hunter was about 14 seconds behind!! As the race progressed, he slowly closed.. One thing that worked in my favor tough was that I was not as practiced at the track as he was, so I was still learning. I manage to do the chicane (4) better (shaving maybe .5 - 1 second when done right) and was getting better at the 6,7,8 complex.

I managed to break into the mid 1:10's at one point, but Hunter closed to within 2 seconds in the last few laps. At that point though, our lap times were not that different and I finished ahead. So realistically, Grea's mess up made the race rather interesting, otherwise Hunter would have just run away with it.

Saloon:

This was a bit of a BMW parade. Hunter and I took off and proceeded to do a good 8 laps within a second or two of each other. We were pretty damn even, but I did notice that I could not pull any kind of draft on him in the straights (not that passing would have been easy any way). I think this the result of him running no wing. I don't think the wing did much except for the chicane, but probably killed my straight away speed enough to kill the draft. So that was pretty much the race. We closed a bit at the pit, but he slowly pulled away (maybe 1/8 second to .25 seconds a lap) .

Not very exciting. There was a moment of hope though. When Hunter and I pitted, Grae stayed out which put him in the lead. We closed on him rather quickly (him being on old tires), but he managed to dive into the pits before we got to him. I was hoping he would act as lap traffic and allow me to close on Hunter, but it was not to be (heck, he probably would have pulled over anyway).

Next week Trail Mountain... now with fewer walls!!!

I also have a potential new racer that might be with us next week. He is a New Zealander that I ran into on line. He seems to be very fast and very clean. He will fit in nicely if he can deal with the low traction cars we use.

In reply to aircooled:

You saw me hit the chicane that I just navigated perfectly because I barely scraped the inside wall on the first corner and got damage. I tapped walls worse later that race and got nothing.

There are times the arbitrary damage/penalties system really annoys me.

Air, what's strange about your rotary is that it seems to be performing above what it should on paper. (Normal for rotaries i'm thinking.) Your top speed was a good 2-3 mph higher than the bimmers.

One thing I was going to note Grizz:

I did see you glitching a bit when I was following you. At one point I managed to pass you but I was not sure if I hit you or you bounced off the wall, you just sort of appeared behind me sliding around (not sure if you were actually sliding around though)

I suspect the glitching had something to do with the arbitrary damage. You either glitched into a wall, or could not see what was actually happening because of a glitch.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Air, what's strange about your rotary is that it seems to be performing above what it should on paper. (Normal for rotaries i'm thinking.) Your top speed was a good 2-3 mph higher than the bimmers.

I does seem to do better on the straights, but seems to loose a bit on the corners compared to the BMW's. I think this is mostly because the BMW are easier to control at the edge. Which in itself is pretty strange since the RX8 likely has a lower CG and should have the same weight distribution (50/50)

One of the reasons I liked the RX8 was that it is very well streamlined, so that may be what gives me a better top speed (much like the Europa in the previous series). I of course assumed that this being a NASCAR inspired race series there would be a lot of open fast courses... I probably should have looked at the course list first.

Some great racing, last night.

Like was mentioned, in GT, Grae tapped the wall after the back straight, and came back out on to the track. I saw it happening, and tried to avoid for both our sakes, but just couldn't get slowed and over enough in time. First thought: how damaged is it, and can I stay out with the damage and run respectably? I felt the car out in the next two corners and decided to just pit then and there. Get it out of the way, and give myself as many laps to catch back up as I could. I came out of the pits about 26 seconds back, and just hammered on it. At first I was catching fairly quickly. Then, right about the 15-16 seconds back mark, Air figured out that first section. LOL. Time came a lot slower then. My front tires were shot, but I was determined to pit with less than 10 laps to go. Just happened that that is when Air pitted as well.

I was hoping I could make up time quickly on the cold tires. I felt like I had an advantage there, and did my best to use it. It worked, as I caught up quite a bit in the first lap or so. Then I just focused on being consistent, trying to whittle the time down. Unfortunately, that focus went away as the tires did, and I got close to Air. Once within 5 seconds, I really started pushing. Which in turn led to mistakes. I would narrow it down to 3, then go back to 5. Get it down to 2, and then back to 4. I was hoping to crack him. Make him push hard, but to his credit, he never did. He ran steady and fast, and ended up with a well earned win.

The Saloon race was the same, but different. I got out with the lead, Air right on my bumper, tried to make hay and pull away but just couldn't. He was stuck back there. All I could do is slowly inch away. He would catch me up in the chicane, and I would pull back away from that point. So I settled in, and used what I learned in the first race. Steady, and work to be consistent in my times. My strategy was to get past the half way point of the race before pitting. Ideal, I would have like to come out with 9 or 10 laps left. IIRC, I only made it 12 laps, so had 11 left. Air came in as well, and pitted in front of me. As I was pulling out, my driver hesitated, as he felt Air's car was in the way. I was thinking, "Nooo!" LOL. But I got out ahead, and we did the dance once more. If Air would have been able to draft me more effectively, it would have been REALLY interesting.

On a side note; when we went to Trial Mtn, I decided to try something. I ditched the wheel, and went back to my controller. I used to be, IMHO, very good with it. I still feel I am fairly good using, but... with ABS set to 0? Wow. Much respect and props to those who are using controllers. So hard to brake effectively, not to mention consistently effectively.

Hunter, I ran behind you in pract./qual. and saw you stradling the rumble strips to get a wide entry into at least 2 turns. I tried to do the same but the "berm" would steer my car and I couldn't really control the turn in precisely so I stayed to the inside of the berm for the race. Question to you and Air: was it also hard for you to control? It didn't look like it was. My car may have been a little low to run that line and I didn't have time to play with it to see.

Yes Air, I probably would have pulled over to let you guys by in Saloon. I wouldn't have wanted to affect the race outcome in that manner twice in one night. Now it would have been different if I had known I could run at or near the same pace as you two.

Air, glad to hear that you invited a new competitor. We need some additional interest since so many of our regulars are tied up for a while. There's one or two on my list I'll try to invite asap. How about everyone taking time to do that this week?

Hunter, I don't know for sure but I heard a rumour that Air runs his pit crew through the Hendricks Motorsports School weekly. Those guys are always faster than my guys. My guys look good in their uniforms but they're mostly homeless chaps with a few illegal aliens thrown in. The crew chief's shop is under an elm tree in my back yard. They do alright considering.