GRM Project Cars 2 (PS4) - Series 11 Discussion Thread

Ok, so we've gone on for a bit on the end of the Series 10 thread about what to do next. Figured I make a separate thread.

• Formula Renault, an early favorite but seems to have fallen off the radar a bit the past few weeks. I like these still, but only really messed around with them at one track.
• We played around with the Ferrari 333SP a couple times. No ABS or TC. Revs to 11k and sounds good. Lots of red cars and a few yellows to choose from.
• We tested a bit with the Porsche 908. Drives like an old car, no ABS or TC. Livery choices limited. Looks cool.
• The Caterham (longname.here/car) track day car seems pretty fun, fairly quick and relatively tame. Brad mentioned a while back that he didn't like this car, but he did seem to indicate that we could decide on a series while he is out. That class also has a Radical. Maybe we could test them out together?
• The BMW M1 Procar - we tested this a time or two. Not bad, but not fast. Not my favorite.
• Speedy likes the Lotus 25. It is a fun car (especially on the rally cross tracks - seriously you have to try it out).
• The Vintage class (Escort, 6.8L Merc, and the BMW 2002) we tried seems like it would make for boring races. Maybe on smaller tracks they would be more fun, but they are just too slow for bigger tracks for me to like.

What else? I probably left some off the list.

Vintage A. We tested. Intresting but I am not sure we want a whole series with it. 

I'm still a fan of the Formula Renaults.  I think TJ and I are in the minority though.

Could we try a change to the formula?  Maybe a three week series with two 20 min races or three 15 min races?  A sprint race type formula.  Start a practice room and then some one else sets up the race room as a preset for just a 5 min qualifying and a 20 min race (for two races)?  OR do three sessions with a 5 min qual and a 15 min race?  Once we are in the race room it is easy to start the 2nd and third races.  At least give this a try and see how it goes.  Maybe try it this Wednesday?  Hell to keep Brad happy we can even try it with the e Formula Renaults. We may discover that after the three sprint races we are good to go to another car.  The following week.  We have a reasonably good list of cars to play with at the moment.  

Hell let the looser pick the car for the next week from the list of potential cars we have so far?  I don't know if that would work.   Just trying to come up with a formula that keeps things interesting and fresh each week.

I was thinking if we did the three race formula you would only count your best two races for you cumulative score for the event. Tie breaker goes to the better qualifier in the first race. 

I know I know I am creating a nightmare for the person doing the scoring. 

Maybe we brake out Airs spreadsheet from GT. That thing got really complicated. 

Another consideration for the three race setup.  Do the first race as an open room, and make it clear to others that race, that if they do a clean race we invite them to the next two races (in a closed room).

A bit more work,  it might be a way to get more participants.  Heck while Darkwing has his issues from to much "driving" he could act as an evaluator.

I still have the spreadsheets, and they still should work I think, I only somewhat aware of how they actually work though (some rather complicated pivot tables).

So plans for tomorrow night?  Should we try a mock race night with the Formula Renaults?  My thought are that if we do the 2-20 minute sessions we will be finished under an hour.  IF we do three 15 min races we will probably be more like an hour and ten or fifteen minutes depending on how fast we turn over from race to race (people may want a rest room brake between races or need to go and refresh there beverage) 

Brad are you going to be around?  IF you are not we can hold off on the Formula Renaults until you are as I know you like them.  We could play with one of the other cars or just test some other cars. 

TJ you around? (PM or email me if you are not posting here)

I'm not hosting tonight...

You going to join us?  

I can host. With brad out I will select four classes of cars and we can rotate through testing stuf. I am thinking a 10 min qual and a 10 min race. The rinse and repeat. That wY we can cycle through a fair number of cars.  If anyone wants to bring some suggestions that would be great. 

Well.... we kind of have to test that Lotus on the RallyX track now TJ will keep reminding us if we don't...

Maybe, if we can find SOME use for any of the street cars.  We of course will need a small track.  We could try the street courses again, which would certainly be fine for a short race.

That was way to much fun last night.  Who would have thought Lotus on a Rally Track could be so much fun!!!

T.J.  I take back everything I ever said about you.  ;-)

BTW the format last night was fun  20 min practice then strait in to the 5 lap race.   I need to see about changing the settings so I can access all the cars so we can swap things with out changing rooms.  

Yes, that seemed to work out great.  It might be a good way to TRY the karts without committing a night to it (I don't have high expectations).  Also a good way (the only way really) to try the RallyX cars.  The junior RallyX cars are supposed to be more manageable, the full ones are pretty manic (but might be worth a try).

I don't think I have ever tried carts in this game. Could be fun???  Carts on dirt????  Oh. I forgot I wanted to try the Bronco on a short dirt track just because. Maybe that one with the barn you drive through?  
 

Also what was that big dirt track we tried one time with the bronco?  That track with the lotus could be fun. 

Yeah, I think that was one of the more "street" tracks.  Lots of elevation changes as I remember.

So more testing. Decided to step more in to the street car world and Road E was where I landed as I wanted to dive a little deeper in to this group of cars.  These were my choices.  My testing was at Nurburgring GPF.  I did a ten min practice then strait in to a three lap race.  The cars were driven with the stock loose default tune for comparison.  

Started with the 959

and once I figured out how to get it to rotate it was.....  well interesting. It did not seem fast but it turned out to be fast. A frustrating car for those that are not AWD fans but it makes an off not that big of a deal.  In the end I liked the challenge of being fast with it and I think with not much tuning it could be a contender.  On a side note of you take the "mulligan" the car gets some of the best height and distance of any car I have "tested". 

Next up was the merc. For starters I did not test how well it jumps. 

This thing gets up and goes. Off the start it pulled every other car in the field.   It takes a balance  of knowing when to manhandle it and when to be smooth.  Wheel spin out of corners is something you have to be aware of so throttle management is needed but getting it right was not hard to dial in and I just kept getting faster with it.  This was a fun car and possibly the ringer of the bunch.  
 

Next up was the EVO X .  This thing seemed like the car with the most grip and the car that I could keep my foot in it the most but the lap times told another story.  I was really slow  2-3 seconds slower than the 959 and the Merc.  Maybe I am just not driving it the way it wanted.  
 

I will be testing more of the road E cars to further compare them but so far they are fun cars. Not race car fast but fun all the same and I think a evening of three sprint races in these could be fun.  

I think I'm going to pass the reigns for this next series.  I only get limited time to play and I'm enjoying the F1 game. So, I want to put my time in that game for a bit.  From what I gather the multi player is basically wreck fest, I'm not sure the game will have longevity after I've mastered all the tracks and run through the career.

All the rallycross tracks and street cars sound good to me, I agree that the vintage cars weren't that great.  Unfortunately I'll have to miss this week, but I should be back for next Wednesday night.  I'll check back here for what you guys decide so I can get a little bit of practice.

I played with the M1 a bit (on a kart track!) and it seemed like a lot of fun (especially once I turned off the traction control).

One minor consideration.  If we find a faster car (e.g. I am suspicious that GTO might be) that is a manual car, I wll offer the option of driving it with a clutch.  I find it much more enjoyable / engaging but it is clearly harder to be precise.  Should be a bit less manic with these cars.

How about in the short term we run the sprint race format and change things up every week until Brad decides to come back and host a longer more traditional series. 

One question would be should we limit it to fixed setups that make arrive and drive much easier and practice easier so anyone can jump in.  This may limit the car choices a bit as some cars in stock form are horrible but I am sure that we can work around that for a while.

We could also run open rooms or add AI.   I don't know if there was a change to the AI but I have been running it set at 100/25 and the AI has been much better than in the Indy car series we did.  Also with sprint races if you get booted you are not stuck at the back for the duration of a long race as we reset with a new race rather quickly. 

Thoughts?

Edit:  Brad even with you not hosting you are still going to join us yes?