GRM Project Cars 2 - Series 8: Not bitter at all...

Welcome to the (un)official GRM - Project CARS2  series #8.

This is a 6 round Touring Car Endurance Championship series hosted on the PlayStation4. Although highly competitive the main focus of the racing is fun clean racing. Because of this, rough driving is highly discouraged. The Stewards will be watching.

The series will be run on **Wednesday nights at 9:00ET**.

The first race will be on: **November 6th, 2019**

PS+ is required to participate.

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Before we go any further, I'm not bitter.  For the record, not bitter.  I didn't decide to enter the Optima Ride Shotgun promotion thinking I would win.  However, I did read the rules.  I spent a lot of time making what I thought was a good video... more so, a video that checked all the boxes of the rules and judging criteria (1. story evokes emotion (25%) 2. video is relevant and appropriate (50%) and 3. quality of the video (25%)).  I submitted it, and waited.  I watched the other entries.  The guy who said he was just looking for someone to buy his ticket on a trip he was going to take anyway, the 5 second clip of a mustang revving the garage, the selfie video of someone saying it would be cool....  I'm not bitter.  My video has been listed as #2 on their site since I submitted it.  I wasn't even selected as a finalist.  Frankly, I call BS.  I'm actually going to send the request to get a list of winners... I'm not bitter.

Here's my video presented for your enjoyment...

Anyway, I was planning on making a series that would end with us running a 2.4 hour race on the 'ring to coincide with the promotion.  Now, it's just a painful memory.  You go on and read the rules while I sulk over in the corner.

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Rounds:

Cars: Touring Car (Open selection)

Rules:

• Races will be based on time as follows: Qualification 45 minutes / Race 75 minutes
• A bonus point will be awarded for the fastest lap for the finisher off the podium (4th and lower)
• Realistic Driving Aids
• Fuel usage is set to Yes
• Tire usage will be set to "Accelerated"
• Damage will have a performance impact
• There will be a mandatory pit stop
• AL driver swaps will be allowed (a friendly version of I've had too much tonight)
• Flag will be ON
• Standing starts
• Track Limit Penalties will be OFF
• Drive Through Penalties will be OFF
• Ghost cars will be ON
• AI drivers will fill the field and be start at 95%.  This will increase by 5% as needed to keep competitive
• AI drivers aggression will be set to 25%
• Competitive Racing License will be ON
• Time progression 5x

Points:

Championship Standings:

I'm thinking we run Round 6 on a weekend night.  But open for suggestions.

Hmmm... so.... no car designated... I guess that means I get to pick...

Wednesday, Sunday, both work for me.

Brad, that was a great video, I don't know what else they could have wanted.

As for the series, that looks awesome.  Having only done sprint races for so long it's going to be an adjustment for sure.  

aircooled said:

Hmmm... so.... no car designated... I guess that means I get to pick...

Wednesday, Sunday, both work for me.

 

Take your pick...

Sweet. 75 minute races should be an interesting change. I haven’t spent much time at all with the TC cars. 

Three FWD cars and the BMW.  Do these have TC and ABS? May be a tire saving type deal. Wonder how long they can run on a full tank. 

Oh yeah, we may need to reconsider tire wear to avoid Spec BMW, or potentially see if the restrictor can be used.  When we tested these before we did short races (6 laps or so) but at lap 5 the front tires on the FWD cars tires started falling off, but the BMW had much more even wear.  I think the FWD cars are a little bit faster, but not enough to overcome the tire wear differential.   

If people are around some evenings this week we can play with it a bit and see what shakes out.

In reply to e30Matt :

I should be on. I am excited to try these cars out. I've only done a handful of laps with each of them. I think I remember testing them at Bugatti circuit?

Also, what do you think about posting a link on the discord server to see if we can get more humans into the mix?

e30Matt said:

Oh yeah, we may need to reconsider tire wear to avoid Spec BMW, or potentially see if the restrictor can be used.  When we tested these before we did short races (6 laps or so) but at lap 5 the front tires on the FWD cars tires started falling off, but the BMW had much more even wear.  I think the FWD cars are a little bit faster, but not enough to overcome the tire wear differential.   

If people are around some evenings this week we can play with it a bit and see what shakes out.

Hopefully my track selection help to balance it out as well.  Tire wear may not be as much of an issue at COTA and Fuji.  Speed will be more important there.  Everyone has to make a mandatory pitstop, so when you do that could be a big strategy boost.  Of course, I've turned on damage, so that could throw wrenches at your plans.

T.J. said:

Also, what do you think about posting a link on the discord server to see if we can get more humans into the mix?

I'm game for it, but want to keep it a private room since we have damage turned on.  

In reply to BradLTL :

Oooh, I missed that damage was on. Another interesting change up. I like it.

BTW, it looks like the dates are all messed up in your posted schedule with dates in May and June.

T.J. said:

In reply to BradLTL :

Oooh, I missed that damage was on. Another interesting change up. I like it....

I have been spending most of my time playing Wrekin' Racing...

... I am sure it will be fine...

Should we consider turning on Reliability (or failures or whatever it is called) also?  I have no idea how it works in the game.  Is you car more likely to break if you drive it harder or is it just random?

Wonder if over revs on down shifts will be an issue. 

I also think that the cars should all be either FWD or RWD. 
 

We have had problems with mixing them in the past. 

In reply to aircooled :

I thought a little damage would be ok, but didn't want to overdo it. That said I'm game whichever way you guys want to go. 

Brad you are going soft on us. I don't see any fog. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Not sure I consider over 2 hours of non-stop lapping at the combined 'ring "soft". 

I threw some rain in at the end of the Fuji race to spice up the "easiest" track of the series. 

I typically can’t make a lap of the ring without dying. So unless I spend a bunch of time on that track practicing, I foresee a lot of AI co-driver that race. 

I kinda wish I had a PS4. These races sound fun.

The Ring is easy: after the GP section you go left, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, over the hill then right, left, left, right, left, left at the bottom of the hill, left over crest, right, left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right, right, left hairpin, right, left, left, right, left over crest, left, right, left, left, left, right, left, left, right, right, left into carousel, right, left, left, right, right, left, right, left, right down the hill, right ove crest, left, right, right, left, straight over crest, right, left over crest, slight right, right, left, left, right, right onto long straight, left over crest, right, left, right, left, and then you're on the start/finish straight.  What could be easier?*

*I have no idea if this is accurate as it was done from memory after a couple of adult beverages, and there may be some double apexes that are listed as multiple turns and vice versa

How do you swap drivers?  I assume it is part of the pit stop setup?  

You get out, someone else gets in.

I assume your son has been practicing?

T.J. said:

I foresee a lot of AI co-driver that race. 

I played with the idea of a forced AI driver stint. I figured you would revolt, so I left it at just a mandatory stop. 

If you force the AI to run a stint, you can choose how long the stint is... 1 lap and get back in, making 2 pit stops? Do 1 stop and let the AI finish the race?  It could be interesting, but it also turns into watching video games instead of playing video games. 

I messed around a little bit mostly with the Megane. I changed the springs, ARBs and dampers to settings I came up with using the suspension calculator. These settings fairly different from the default loose setup, but the car felt not that different. That may mean that setup is not as important as driving with this car or it may mean I haven't figured out how to drive the car yet. I do like it better than the BMW in its stock setup.

That car can carry 100L of fuel, which looks to be a lot of laps at Algarve. Not sure if it is enough for 75 minutes or not because I wasn't really paying attention to it. I think I only did 5 lap stints or so, so no read on tire wear yet.

Guess I need to try the Open and the AMG. Also need to try a pitstop/driver change to see how that works.