GT5-GRM Racing League

I'm in. Got GT5 for my birthday. 8pm CST is tight for me, so I'll run in CM if there's room. Dunno what car yet, though.

Awesome another vict... Competitor

Madrid tonight. Another city course with many walls, tell the pit crews to get ready!

I should be able to open the room early tonight so everyone can get some warm up laps in before the start.

i'm having some trouble connecting my PS3 to the internet, but i'll try to make this one.

room is up @

1472-6681-3200-9594-1175

that was fun, other than immediately wrecking my mustang in the CM race! More walls next week and tight corners, exactly what my giant mustang sucks at.

Should be fun!

Here are the updated results and standings... pictures to follow soon!

Interesting race last night guys. Brad and I had an interesting GRM race since we both started with comfort tires rather than sport! I was starting to wonder if Chimp was cheating somehow until I realized that (he was a lot faster).

We might consider running the CM first just because the adjustment to lower traction seems to be harder. It took me three tries just to get around the 1st corner when we switched!!

Brad, I hope you did not mind my rather aggressive passing in the second race. I was just trying to keep it interesting since we were both well out of the race. I did think it was pretty funny though, after the second (squeeze on the right) pass on the back straight we both (in formation) smacked straight into the wall after the straight.

Aggressive is exactly what racing should be... I had a blast! The pass you made in high speed corner was pretty ballsy!

Some color...

From the GRM Class race: The best aircooled's car looked all race!

From the CM Race:

next tuesday i can probably start to get in on this.

aircooled wrote: We might consider running the CM first just because the adjustment to lower traction seems to be harder. It took me three tries just to get around the 1st corner when we switched!!

+1 to this! I wrecked pretty much immedietely in the CM race. Something about going from a nice FC with good tires to a giant behemoth with double the power and weight and crap tires is somewhat difficult! I had to remind myself to brake earlier and adjust my line so that my brake zones were totally straight. I did try to forget caution and go full blast, but that created a few butt clenching situations where i was nicking the wall like in that photo up there. I can't wait for some more racers! 3 is fun, but 10+ would be awesome

Brad- are the rest of those photos in your flicr thing from you using the photo dealy? If so those are awesome! I haven't had much time screwing with the photo dealy but my only experience with photography is a high school course years ago so i probobly couldn't make them that cool.

Also as a question of interest for everybody, Why did you pick the cars you did for this race? for me i picked the FC because i've always wanted an older RX7, and this seemed like the perfect time to get one. As for the Mustang, My dad is a Mustang guy and the only classic mustang on the game that was a 'premium' car is the '71 Mach 1. Definitely not my favorite mustang, I always thought they were a bit giant looking, but it works fine. I say that now before Monaco, but i had an advantage at Monza with it's long straights. Too bad i missed that race.

Yeah, there is a set called Gran Turismo 5 which are all done with strictly in-game photo mode. Thanks, I have to admit the more I play with it the more addicting it is. I am no good at staging, so I try and take pics from the races I run.

I choose the S2000 because of its real world handling. It was always the car that gave me the most competition in local autocross.

The GT350R was the wrong choice. Should have run the Alfa or the Europa. Took the GT for the HP advantage, missed the judgement on the impact of the tires.

BradLTL wrote: The GT350R was the wrong choice. Should have run the Alfa or the Europa. Took the GT for the HP advantage, missed the judgement on the impact of the tires.

yeah i have the same issue with my mustang. 830+ft-lb and 1300 kg does not go well with comfort tires in any way, except on very, very long straights, the kind that exists at La Sarthe or the Nurburgring, and nowhere else. I ran a few practice laps around Monaco, and decided set up on my Mach1 is pretty much hopeless, it's just going to be one giant tip-toe contest for me. I can't actually floor it for more than half a second at any point on the track, so all of that power is completely useless. I figure the tire wear problem isn't a concern, because wall slamming will result in a pit stop long before I need tires.

pic from me attempting to not crash and failing:

Rufledt wrote:

aircooled wrote: We might consider running the CM first just because the adjustment to lower traction seems to be harder. It took me three tries just to get around the 1st corner when we switched!!

+1 to this! I wrecked pretty much immedietely in the CM race. Something about going from a nice FC with good tires to a giant behemoth with double the power and weight and crap tires is somewhat difficult!

I agree that it is a hell of a transition, however more people have and have responded that they would participate in the GRM class, so I think it is more important that it start at a scheduled time.

I will commit to a full 15 minute warm-up session between classes though. I'll give countdowns so you know how much time is left. That should give you a good amount of time to reset you brain and find you brake points. Fair?

In the next series, we can move classes around a bit. I am thinking about offering something other than CM in the next series. Maybe something similar to CM's Small Bore Cup? A Caterham Class? Any thoughts/suggestions?

Rufledt wrote: I ran a few practice laps around Monaco, and decided set up on my Mach1 is pretty much hopeless, it's just going to be one giant tip-toe contest for me.

I'm actually looking forward to the CM race. I spent a few hours this morning messing around with my tuning on the GT350. I pulled quite a few bits off the engine (supercharger, intake, exhaust, etc) and managed to get it down from 573hp to 417hp. Plus a very minor suspension change from Madrid moves the car from "Completely Impossible" to "Very Difficult" to drive. That is a huge step in the right direction. The drop in HP allows me to use more gears, which improves acceleration greatly. In my sessions this morning at the end I was running lap times in the 2:11 - 2:13 range. That is down from when I started the sessions at 2:45 - 3:10s and very inconsistent driving lines.

The S2000 is just about where I want it. It received a fully customizable transmission so I can tweak the gear ratio (I was not impressed watching aircooled run away from me in the straights last race), and a fresh coat of "Blu Mattelise" paint.

If I can remember to check my tires before the start of the race, I expect to be very competitive at Monaco.

Rufledt wrote: ......it's just going to be one giant tip-toe contest for me. I can't actually floor it for more than half a second at any point on the track....

It would be very nice if there was some sort of audio cue that you were spinning the tires (the tire noise doesn't change). I did figure out the brake audio clues though. They have a squealing sound and a sliding sound. You don't want the sliding of course, but the squealing seems to give maximum braking (just don't do ANY turning).

The trick with Monaco will be the tight corners. In order to get traction the rear end has to be almost solid, but that makes tight turns and under steer festival. If you are SUPER careful you can drift around the corners, but that is just going down a bad road and will almost assuredly result in disaster (especially during a race).

I regards to lighter cars (e.g. Europa). I did play with this a bit, and although they are a bit faster around the corners, the lack of power makes them much slower in the straights. A small bore class would be interesting though.

I really really really want to try and stay out of the walls next week. I tend to set my cars up rather loose so when I loose a bit of concentration I become a concrete inspector (see yellow RX7 pics above).

BradLTL wrote: I agree that it is a hell of a transition, however more people have and have responded that they would participate in the GRM class, so I think it is more important that it start at a scheduled time. I will commit to a full 15 minute warm-up session between classes though. I'll give countdowns so you know how much time is left. That should give you a good amount of time to reset you brain and find you brake points. Fair? In the next series, we can move classes around a bit. I am thinking about offering something other than CM in the next series. Maybe something similar to CM's Small Bore Cup? A Caterham Class? Any thoughts/suggestions?

Sounds fair to me. As for next series, I like those ideas. There's a whole host of cars on here from pre '74 UK and Japan that are light with small engines, and I think it would be great fun. So far the CM races that i've entered have been all muscle cars. Also I just noticed that I had a Caterham. I haven't driven it yet, but I bet it would be fun. There could also be a rally class, something like 2wd max 300 hp or something like that with 4wd max 400hp class. I'd also enjoy a hot hatch class. Obviously there are way more ideas then you can use in one season, and i'd be happy to race in any of them.

BradLTL wrote: I'm actually looking forward to the CM race. I spent a few hours this morning messing around with my tuning on the GT350. I pulled quite a few bits off the engine (supercharger, intake, exhaust, etc) and managed to get it down from 573hp to 417hp. Plus a very minor suspension change from Madrid moves the car from "Completely Impossible" to "Very Difficult" to drive. That is a huge step in the right direction. The drop in HP allows me to use more gears, which improves acceleration greatly. In my sessions this morning at the end I was running lap times in the 2:11 - 2:13 range. That is down from when I started the sessions at 2:45 - 3:10s and very inconsistent driving lines. The S2000 is just about where I want it. It received a fully customizable transmission so I can tweak the gear ratio (I was not impressed watching aircooled run away from me in the straights last race), and a fresh coat of "Blu Mattelise" paint.

I'll have to look into this. I've been running over 700HP and i have to use a sensitive throttle foot below 100mph, which creates a real beast in slow, technical places like monaco. I have managed to turn laps just a hair under 2 minutes, but it would be hard for me to keep that up for a full race without slamming a wall, and my tires would probobly last only 5 laps.

I was also considering JDMdriftYO-ing up my white FC with some crazy color scheme... maybe some color changing wheels?

aircooled wrote: It would be very nice if there was some sort of audio cue that you were spinning the tires (the tire noise doesn't change). I did figure out the brake audio clues though. They have a squealing sound and a sliding sound. You don't want the sliding of course, but the squealing seems to give maximum braking (just don't do ANY turning).

I've been using the tire temp dealy on the left for acceleration. slightly pink means you are at the limit, red means your tires are crying. It's been working for me, kindof.

Edit: new JDMdriftYO paintjob on my FC: Lime green paint with TVR color change orange/purple painted wheels. Do the wheels clash enough with the body for the drift crowd? I don't know, but it will certainly be out of place in Monaco.

Has anyone noticed their HP rating fluctuating? My GRM-prepped 370Z seems to be anywhere from 349-353hp with no changes.

Spent some time with it at Cote d'Azur yesterday and got must of the understeer out of it... getting there...

Yeah i've noticed that. I don't think it's only down to the oil change thing either. I've noticed changes from 345 to 356, so i've just been waiting until the race to see what my power is at and changing parts to keep it all legal.

New car's engines will break in and result in slightly higher HP. As you use them, the HP falls up to the point of needing an oil change... then it should stay about the same until very high miles, then you'll need a rebuild.

Careful with your Z, the limit is 350.

Pulled the air filter (only power mod left on it at that point) and it's down to 345. Pretty cool that it actually breaks in like that.

In reply to Rufledt:

That is pretty JDMdriftYO.... should make for some interesting shots.

In reply to thestig99:

You might as well grab a car for the CM class as well. :) You can do whatever mods you would like to it... just remember you'll be running on Comfort-Medium tires without traction control or ABS.