GRM Project Cars 2 - Series 3: Blancpain in Air's arse

In reply to dean1484 :

I did math one 5 different strategies today. There was a clear winner. There was a clear loser. The 3 in the middle where so close that it would be down to the driver. 

Points update, replay posted.  Bonus T1 incident coverage at the end of the replay.

The points race is getting  interesting with Dean, Brad and Air all within a few points of each other. 

Are the Spa points doubled since the race length is doibled?

In reply to T.J. :

I hadn’t intended it to be a double points event. On the actual Blancpain calendar this round is the Spa 24 hour race. That seemed extreme for our series, but I did want to make it more significant. 

I remember the 2 hours and 24 minutes of LeMans that we did in the past.  I vote for double points next week.  Longer track, bigger field?  Maybe 24 cars total? (18 AI)

Air should love it.  I've watched the 911's in the rain first person.  They won Petit LeMans outright against the LMP machines.  I was a VERY wet race.

In reply to Argo1 :

We can’t add more than 16 in multiplayer on console. That’s reserved for the PC Master Race. 

Actually, Spa isn't too bad in the wet.  Better than I thought it would be.  I must be doing something wrong as I set up a practice race in the wet conditions and it still gave me dry practice and qualifying.

In the wet, with settings of 79/25, the Bots run a race pace of 2:38's in the rain and run 2:29's when the track dries out between showers.  I made massive setup changes and after about 20 laps of tweaking I can run 2:31's in the rain.  I haven't tried this setup in drying track conditions yet.

Anyone know how the weather system works in the game? I messed around a bit yesterday with a practice race and the rain gets pretty hard at some points to the point of some puddling on track. In these conditions wets were the only tire choice and those had fairly low grip.

This morning I did some private testing with the same date, time and weather slots, but it just did a light sprinkle and never had a downpour. In these conditions soft slicks were faster than wets for me and the wets seemed to wear at a rate that makes me wonder about using a set for the whole hour. I ran about 30 minutes and it rained the entire time.

I guess what I am wondering are the weather slots just a forecast and then there is some randomization to it, so if I run 5 races with the same settings I might get slightly different weather? I'll try to run a race tonight and see, Perhaps I just had my settings different somewhere.

In reply to Argo1 :

There are separate weather slots for practice, quali and the race.

In reply to T.J. :

The weather does randomize. Light rain will vary from steady rain to just sprinkles. With three weather slots, it will randomize the time spent using each one. Two slots are light rain, one is heavy clouds. So, at some point in the race it will stop raining. For how long? Who knows.

My plan is to run all the fuel from the start with wets and if they give up the gost during the dry or if in teh wet I have worn them to much I will get a new set but otherwise I am going to go for a no stop race.  Just simpler that way. I just have to remember to set up my pit stop strategy thing before the race.

In reply to dean1484 :

That seems like a pretty boring strategy from the guy who likes to work out strategies.

My strategy: be in Mormon country for work. 

I did an hour race vs the AIs. The strategy I tried worked ok. Would've been better if a didn't spin 3 times. Irritating that the game wont save the whole replay so I could get the data I want out of it. 

My biggest issue is not strategy, it is that I am not fast in the wet. Not sure if it's down to setup, skill or technique. Hopefully I can find a few seconds per lap in the wet still. 

I might be out Wednesday.   Might be for the best since I don't want to show you guys up two races in a row. 

If I do show up, it will likely be comprised of me setting up some possible pit stop setups and taking a wild guess at fuel strategy, then go.... I am sure that will work out just fine.

While everybody is thinking about pit strategy, just and FYI, the bots don't stop.

In reply to Argo1 :

That may have something to do with my plan.

I've seen some bots make 3 stops, but usually they do 2 stop from what I have seen. 

The Carrera has a distinct advantage in the wet though it wears it's rear tires faster.  We will see if Air shows tonight.

I may be a no show as well.  If I do I will more than likely be a bit distracted as we had some "issues" come up that have been taking up all my time.  (totaled car for starters)

In reply to dean1484 :

Not good.  Is everyone OK?

Ya air bag burns but otherwise everything but there egos are fine.  All confirmed by the nice people in the ER. I was not in the car but I get to clean up the mess and deal with all the stuff as it was my car.

I am really thinking I want to sit back and see what is on the top shelf of my bar.  Thinking some Glenfiddich or Black label would be nice tonight and a movie.  I need something mindless as the stress levels in my life the last 24 hours have been very high.     

Well, I had fun most of the race. Brief scare after I changed to softs and got stuck behind an AI train. I think I was in P9 at that point. Dean was not too far behind me and It seemed like if he could pull off the no stopper I was screwed. An AI and I tangled twice with me losing both times. Luckily all 3 of them pitted, so I got by and started to get in some faster laps on the slicks. My strategy was to do as many laps as possible on the slicks. I think I could've maybe gone 1 more, but it would've been a big gamble with no real upside.