GRM - Gran Turismo 5 Racing League - Series 3

aircooled wrote: HH was the killer race! Got another bad start but quickly got into the top 3 in the first turn. I think it was Me, Apex and Bael (silly white French looking car). Boy did we have some crazy close (and very clean) racing going on for a good two laps! The car Apex used would have been a MUCH better choice, it actually turned!

That was nuts, I think I was in close races any time someone got near me. You two, then Brad for a while, then it was the Silly French Car Battle between Apex and I near the end, until my tires went away and he pulled off.

aircooled wrote: The draft in HH was CRAZY! I had a two car draft battle going with someone (Bael?) and someone else (who had obviously been working off of both of us) came FLYING by at what must have been 30+ mph. You could get a decent draft a long way back.

Yeah, that happened a lot during that race. By the by, I was giggling like an idiot watching you and Apex running all over the straight trying to keep each other out of the draft. Although I'm surprised I was able to cut between the both of you without screwing up.

Turdbeast tops out at 170, I should have bumped the top speed up, I would have been able to use the draft much more and passed easier.

Grizz wrote: By the by, I was giggling like an idiot watching you and Apex running all over the straight trying to keep each other out of the draft. Although I'm surprised I was able to cut between the both of you without screwing up.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. I thought it was pretty funny myself.

He is in front of me in the straight and I see him wiggling around like he dropped his coffee in his lap and am thinking "what the hell is that bozo doing?"... then I realize, "oh, he's draft dodging". I don't think it really works, but it is entertaining.

I did the same to him when I got in front of him. Although I have to say I was a bit worried that I would overdo it and spin myself out.. now that would have been embarrassing.

Graefin10 wrote: Apex came into the pits right behind me, pitted in front of me, and left first. I've already had a meeting with my boys this morning Actually, I'm sure it was becase they had to repair the damage. I don't recall exactly how I got by Apex but I worked my way up to 2nd. and had a much better finish than I expected.

Grae, I'm not sure if the game adds time to repair damage, but did you take on fuel as well as tires by chance?

RMD: I didn't mean to say that you and I were banging into each other a lot. I hit you once when I turned and ran into your drivers side door. After that my car was all over the place and I was going to take us both out and I didn't want to pit on lap 4. Driving with front end damage is no fun for me, I'd rather quit than do it.

In reply to T.J.:

No, I didn't take fuel. I really was under the impression that damage DID take extra time. After sustaining major damage @ other races it seemed to me that pit stops took forever. This is the first time I've ever taken damage and was able to continue driving the car with very little difference in lap times from what it was before. This time I felt like I gained time in left turns and lost it back in rt. turns.

BTW, driving in the rain @ Suzuka:

A couple things I noticed:

The games seems to change my brake balance at random. I am not sure if this is just a display thing (showing it different) or it is actually doing it. As an example, I found my Z06 brakes set to 5/5 when I always run them 3/1, strange. I have found the brake settings reversed in other circumstances (e.g. 1/3).

I also noticed when I pulled into the pits in the HH race, the computer defaulted to putting Comfort Softs in the front and Sports Softs in the rear!! I am really glad I noticed that one!!

I guess we need to be extra careful when we click OK in a pit stop.

Grae, maybe you are on to something then with the damage repair. It makes sense, I just never thought about it or timed a stop with and without damage.

ac, that is strange. I haven't noticed my settings changing. The pit stop thing is strange with the tire choice. With one of the last patches to the game you have more time to decide before clicking ok - it used to have a countdown timer that made you rush. Now you can take your time and make sure the tires and fuel are what you want. No idea why it ever tries to switch to a different tire other than when running race tires in the rain and it wants to put on rains.

Anyone have a gold chrome they care to donate to my Series 4 paint scheme?

I'll send you a gold chrome, but what do have in return? What do you have in Matte paints?

Sent.

Turdbeast is awesome. I checked yesterday, and it now has 472 hp. Every time I run one of these races, that car gets more power afterwards. I hope it will have 500hp by the end of the series.

aircooled wrote: The games seems to change my brake balance at random. I also noticed when I pulled into the pits in the HH race, the computer defaulted to putting Comfort Softs in the front and Sports Softs in the rear!! I am really glad I noticed that one!!

I had both of those happen to me as well.

T.J. wrote: Sent.

Sweet. Thanks. I'll see what pretty colors I have to send back.

Anyone willing tp post some hh suzuka laptimes? I've done more series 4 laps than hh or z06 so far. Radically messed with my final drive ratio. Not really sure if it helped or not. Trying to keep rpms up in my powerband and not have them drop down to 6k on upshifts. After a couple laps my best is 2:19, but i figure that's 3-4 secs off at least. Just want a check.

In reply to T.J.:

I don't remember my times right now but I'll post them when I get a chance to practice some more.

Has anyone run in the rain yet? I can't believe how slick it is. For some reason it seems much slicker than other tracks we've run in wet conditions. I think for one thing Suzuka has some corners with tricky camber changes that are hard to see. Another thing is I think the game takes ACTUAL track surface into it's physics program. For example, @ Monza, there are several turns that are much slicker in the optimum dry line than off line in the rain. That's the way a real track is so cudos to the designers if my observations are correct. I think many of you agree with me because I saw you running off line @ Monza also. If it rains, the winners will be the one who has to tip toe less than the rest.

I heard that the weather is looking sunny for the start of the race...

Brad, I invited a few people to join our league. Directed them to the forum to read the rules. Hopefully at least one will join. I want larger fields.

BradLTL wrote: I heard that the weather is looking sunny for the start of the race...

I scored a 2:17.1 lap this morning, just when I thought I was done with HH setup/practice and ready to move onto the Z06, but now I want to get into the 16's.

I am thinking IS-F for the Saloon Race, but I really haven't thought about the GT race yet... does anyone else have some viable options?

I like the IS-F as well.

I've tried a handul of cars for the GT class, but have yet to really decide on one. Leaning towards 2011 Camaro at this point.

T.J. wrote: I scored a 2:17.1 lap this morning, just when I thought I was done with HH setup/practice and ready to move onto the Z06, but now I want to get into the 16's.

My best so far is a 2:17? HH, and a 1:59.9 Z06. It takes a while for me to settle down and get in a rhythm so that I don't feel so clumsy and make stupid mistakes. More, it seems, on this track than some of the others.

Sun. evening I ran with a group I found on GT Planet that does only 450pp street based in many different forms. Sun. was 80s night. My best car was a Celica 2000 GT4. As it turns out my car could have been faster if I had maxed it out and then used ballast and the power limiter to bring it into compliance. The administrator told me that on Mon. Sport tires were used which worked fine on the 4WD Celica. They do "clean" racing but I got punted off track on L1, T1. I managed to get on the bumper of the last place car by the end of the 10lap event. I ran on about 7 tracks and called it a night. To sum it all up it was fun and the fast guys that have been running together for months now are REALLY FAST. I watched some of their videos and for the most part the guys up front look super smooth, but you can tell they are right on the edge. Anyway, I had fun and it was a totally new challenge. They run a different theme almost every night of the week.

Here's a link if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=193193

Autolex wrote: I am thinking IS-F for the Saloon Race, but I really haven't thought about the GT race yet... does anyone else have some viable options?

Other than the ISF, two of my top contenders were the BMW M5 and the Audi RS6. I really wanted to use 4WD because it takes the no TC rule out of the equation. The problem is they're heavy and personally, I can't make them turn well enough to make it worth while to have the 4WD advantage. All the others I tried were just too slow.

Graefin10 wrote: ... I ran with a group I found on GT Planet that does only 450pp street based in many different forms... ....They do "clean" racing but I got punted off track on L1, T1. ....

I have made an interesting observation lately about online racing. The Europeans are MUCH nicer to drive with. I even ran with a group of Poles the other day. Fortunately I am pretty good with flags, but some of them look very similar (I had to look up Spain, and Belgium, looked to much like Germany) Even had a Israeli show up for a bit.

I get to run a bit at lunch sometimes when there are a lot of Europeans on (not as many at night, time difference and all). You see a lot more racing that involves the same car and shuffle racing (making it all driver). The Europeans I have run into seem to be more focused on a good race rather then figuring out a "killer" car and destroying whomever they meet.

I may just be seeing isolated examples, but it makes for an interesting sociological observation.

Still haven't looked at the Saloon or GT cars and haven't run a lap at Suzuki, although I know the track.... ....sometimes it's more fun to be less prepared.

I've done a few races late at night where the room is all Japanese drivers and me. Other than not being able to read the texts it is fun to run some GT500 races with them. One group I was with did a formation lap then a rolling start, it was pretty fun doing it that way. Guy with the pole dictates the pace coming to the start/finish line and I guess decides when the green flag gets dropped.

Autolex wrote: I am thinking IS-F for the Saloon Race, but I really haven't thought about the GT race yet... does anyone else have some viable options?

I just looked @ your post again and realized it was GT you were asking about. The Maserati GT, Jag. XKF, and BMW M3 are all fast. One thing I've noticed is that many of the regulars in this series are competitive in cars that weren't right for me. My suggestion is to find the car that you are fastest in and remember, sometimes a car that you are comfortable in may be faster in total race laps than one in which you may be able to run an occasional faster lap.

BTW, what is your PSN user name?

Graefin10 wrote: I really wanted to use 4WD because it takes the no TC rule out of the equation. The problem is they're heavy and personally, I can't make them turn well enough to make it worth while to have the 4WD advantage. All the others I tried were just too slow.

I agree... just too darn heavy!

my PSN is Autolex84