GRM Project Cars 2 - Series 5 *Insert Clever Name Here*

Last night pretty much everything went my way and was probably as close to a perfect race as I have run.  I ran softs because my average lap time was about a second faster than on hards, but from previous testing knew that for it to work I had to be on the front row and get out ahead.  I needed to be able to set my own pace and manage the tires in a couple key spots, if I had to play catch up after a botched start or early incident I would likely have trouble in the closing laps.  

As it turned out for the first time in the series I nailed the start, and with TJ getting mired down by the AI I had a comfortable gap by the 2nd chicane on lap 1.  That allowed me to find my rhythm and pace very early on and not need to push the tires too hard too early to get that gap.  I don't know if it was track conditions or what, but once I settled in I realized that even though I was braking early and slowing my corner entry down in several places to preserve the tires I was actually running faster than my target lap time by almost a full second.  In addition, my pressures stayed better than they had in the practice races, the car was more consistent for the duration, and tire wear was significantly better.  It was a perfect storm of somehow being able to run faster laps, more easily, with less tire wear that I can't explain.  The net result was a total time that was a full 30 seconds faster than the last practice race I ran on the exact same setup...

I wish we had a PCars2 series on PC.

In reply to e30Matt :

I spent the first 10 laps basically running qualification level of effort while you were looking after your tires and taking it easy while extending your lead. Maybe I'll have something more for at Imola. 

In reply to T.J. :

I wasn't taking it easy, I was on it pretty much full just with some adaptations to braking points and line.  I was braking slightly earlier than necessary to ensure no lockups and that I didn't overcook the entry and scrub the tires.  That in turn let me both hit my line without issue and also get rotated and on throttle earlier, and given how long the straights are at Monza giving up some entry speed to accelerate earlier ended up not being much slower.  I also took a non-standard line through Parabolica, again braking early but actually apexing right on the inside curb.  The reason I started doing it was to avoid the second set of bumps mid-corner as not to scrub the front left at high speed, but it turns out that you can get on the throttle super early and I actually picked up about 2 mph at the end of the front straight.  

Honestly the performance last night very much surprised me, I didn't think it was possible to run that pace and keep the tires under the car but somehow it worked.

red_stapler said:

I wish we had a PCars2 series on PC.

You can get a deal on a used PS4 and a wheel and come join us. 

The race for me was kind of uneventful. I had one spin in parabolica that cost me 6 seconds and a tank slapper exiting lesmo 1 that cost me another two seconds. In response to my spin I put it in qualification mode and made up some of my time but a couple minor late braking mistakes would give back a quarter second here and there so I only made back about two seconds of the eight I gave up keeping me in 4th. I had a fun chasing down the AI trying to get back to 3rd place. Only made it back to 4th. It was fun. 

In other news Team Tangerine and Team Tangeray are confirming that talks are underway to potentially merge the two teams to allow for sharing of technical information. The Toyota Racing Division (TRD) has approved and will be working with both teams to facilitate cooperation however all sides have insisted that there will be no team orders come race day. It is even rumored that David Wilson, President and General Manager - TRD U.S.A. approved the deal shortly after this weeks race. 

I think my setup is good for Imola at this point. In an effort to learn from Sauce and his drive at Monza, I was trying to practice driving laps without making the tires squeal. Basically focus on being smooth, braking a bit earlier and aiming for good corner exit speeds. I learned that I can knock out consistent laps that are just about the same time as a more aggressive driving style, but there is less risk of a spin or off and also my tire temps remain lower. It seems that although Yorkie says the hards are good up to 221F (tire temps), I can tell a difference from the 190's to the 200's. Keeping them below 200F works the best for me. A little bit of a slide, lockup or spinning them gets them above 200F and that leads to more sliding and squealing. Seems like traction goes down a bit above 200F.

The one setup change I still need to explore is my downforce settings. I should try a little more and a little less and see what that gets me. I did lap an AI McLaren on the last lap of my practice race, but the AI Ferraris and Mercedes can be quick depending on the room. I've seen AI qualli times in the 1:39's up to 1:42's depending on the race.

Disregard previous post, I'm an idiot.  I'll be on tonight practicing if anyone wants to join.

Sorry I missed you last night. Instead of playing I watched a bad movie...

I've done a few practice races so far. Hoping for a good race tonight.

Replay is exporting to the Tube of You now, but...

This is what 0.029 looks like:

Replay is posted on the OP

Great replay.  You could tell Sauce was making much better use of the curbs near the end there.  I am sure much of that was TJ being cautious.  The draft seems pretty apparent right at the end there.

You got a great shot of the AI car pitting me on the first lap also (I had a very nice recovery).

Fun race. Based on practice races, I had a goal of 1:45 on lap 1 and then in the 1:40 for the rest of the laps, knowing that there were bound to be slower laps when encountering Group A cars. I was about about 6 seconds off on lap 1, but was lucky in the end to make it through the sand and back on track without spinning. I then made it to laps 11&12 before I got a lap in the 1:41's, so I was happy with that. My data ends at lap 15 so, I don't know what happened after that (failed to save the replay and RS Dash freaked out because my phone battery was going).

My PB lap at this track 1:38.0 and I decided to not go for that when Sauce was reeling me in because the likelihood of crashing was too high. I thought I'd be better off trying to keep running 1:40 laps and try to not make mistakes and just let him catch me and hope he didn't get by. I nearly threw it all away when I encountered that Group A car in sector 2. I ended up having to go into the grass on the inside of the turn to not hit him. My other choice was to brake hard and either that would've collected Sauce or let him sail right by off into the sunset. Managed to survive. Had a few other bobbles in the last few laps, but managed to keep it on the track. Slow and steady (relatively) worked out this time.

I am happy with my fairly consistent laptimes over the race. Exciting finish. Sauce was very gentlemanly the times he caught up by not forcing the issue and getting past me under braking somewhere - appreciate that.

In reply to aircooled :

You had a couple stylish moves on the replay, but doing a 360 off the track, nearly hitting the apex backwards, and then getting back on track and continuing on as if nothing happened was a cool looking move.

Great race TJ. I had the same lap time in my head as target, but in practice I found a bit more time overall and lowered my target. That was fine until I was up on my fast lap, got greedy and spun. 

As for the chase, I didn't force the issue for a couple of reasons. The first was that your mistakes were small and in places where there was another corner coming up immediately, and going for it likely wouldn't end up sticking. The other part was that my front tires were pretty hot  from trying to catch up and I was having trouble hitting my lines exactly. If I missed my line, carried too much speed, caught too much curb, etc. I would have just taken you out. And finally, I thought I could get you before start finish, and had I not added those extra few liters of fuel just before the race I might have done it 

Thanks!

I checked my tire temps with 3 laps to go and my right front was in the low 190's.  I got them fairly hot in the beginning of the race when I was trying to catch up.

I nearly lost it on the first of the two left handers at the end of the last lap. It looks like I managed to get things reined in and seemed to get through the 2nd one ok, but looked like you got a better exit, got some help from the draft and in general were able to hit higher speeds on the straight.

I found in my practice races that my best bet was to turn off the HUD and just focus on hitting my marks, but after my brakes sticking on during practice and qualifying, I was leery of doing that, so I left the HUD on with the speedo and had to look at it after every braking event to make sure the brakes were not stuck on. I am still using my G27 pedals, but have the G29 pedals that I've never used. Maybe it is time to switch them out. I should've done it a few weeks back when I modified my rig and had the pedal off.

I will say whomever noted that over 200 deg seems to be a critical point for the hard tires (maybe the same for softs?) is very true.  Once the temp goes over 200, they become far less tolerant of any slip angle or sliding.  I finally got some good oversteer going with the Panoz, but ran smack into rear tire temp issues.

In reply to aircooled :

It may be specific to this track or track temp or something. Other races I've not noticed a difference until 220F. I could really tell at Imola by how the car felt when the tires hit 200F. 

So, after some practice at Nurburgring, I don't feel like I am very fast. I started over yesterday with a brand new suspension setup and that helped a bit. My best laptimes so far are in the 1:51's, but I can't help but think that I should be able to break into the 49's, but I haven't even made it to the 50's yet. It seems that a race pace of 1:54-1:55 is good enough to beat the AIs. The one place where the AIs are faster than me is the Schumacher S's. The faster AIs seem to go through the first left hander without lifting.

I need to practice I will see about getting out there tonight. 

In reply to dean1484 :

I'll try to get on tonight for a bit too. We missed you last week.

Well, if everyone is getting on tonight I might as well too. 

I haven't touched it in weeks but I will see if I can get on tonight for some practice and tune.

What car are you in Argo?

When you all going to be on?