Gran Turismo World Series 2024 Begins 17 April

[Roggers]

I am fuming with that race!

Last lap the leaders finished and the time was on 10 to go. In the final chicane as the timer got to 2 seconds the car behind just lunged at me hit me off. Went from P7 to P9. I’m raging right now. The other driver said I pushed him off at 130r which I never did

Can see on my live stream 1 hour 30 the time stamp. I’m not sure whether to go again or not as I could have got P5 from that race.

Live Stream

 

[smcqueen46]

I hate this! P3 in the rain and then the screen goes blank and to add insult to injury, DR takes a hit!

 

[Roggers]

Can’t get over what’s just happed in that race!

Lobby - 3pm GT1 UK - car number 15 and 159 points on offer. My target was top 8.

Qualifying - wasn’t great. I’m too cautious in qualifying and especially with the heavy damage and contact anywhere and it’s over.
2:03:4 I think was my time for P11

Race - everything started well. Did my normal routine of just keeping it safe, not risking an overtake and also not defend too hard. Lap 3 I’m running P8 and then at 130r I just dip a wheel on that dam Astro turf which just sends your car off. The track edge at Suzuka is awful on this game. Every other sim I play you can run wide at the corner, GT7 and its unrealistic physics just sends you off. Luckily I avoid damage and in P12 now. This the first encounter I have with Z Frenchman who cheated. They have damage I’m faster and they block a few times. I get past them at 130r but in the chicane they send it round the outside and block me off. I then lose out to the car behind a lap later. Rain starts and I go for inters on Lap 11. In the wet I keep it safe and on the tarmac and I find my self up to P6. Someone lap 21 pitted for dry tries and well what a mistake that was. They tumbled down the order then quit. P5 and sitting there comfortably. Car behind was quick and caught up before they spun off. I pit lap 25 and well clear with 20 seconds to P6. Lap 27 I lose that advantage. Just get a small tank slapper out of the final chicane and I slowly tap the barrier but get front bumper damage. Now it was a case of 8 laps try and hold to P5, then P6 then P7. Last lap the leader finishes and I know the race will finish before I cross the line so it’s a case of make sure I’m ahead. Car behind which Z Frenchman, closes up but I defend, then the run up to 130r we are side by side with me on the inside, and I know I car break later and have the corner. I stay ahead then at the final chicane the car behind uses dirty tactics and just sends it on me, hitting me off and then as the timer crosses over I drop to P9 as I’ve been used as a brake! I call out the driver in chat to be told I pushed this driver off the track?? I’ve watched the replay and I’m struggling to see where I pushed them off? We had a little door bang but they was still a tracks width space.

Finished P9 which should have been P5 I think, if not P7. Picked up 109 points.

I’ve not decided to go again. I’m too angry at what’s happened and I need to chill out. Can’t do last slot either so it is what it is. If I can’t report this player I will, but end of the day it won’t improve my score so…pointless.

Fun race that and I wish PD opened this race up to everyone, GT2 & GT3 people. Shame that people have to suffer with a different type race.
This is the race incident


Full Race Live stream

 

[Moose78]

@Moose78 hahaha nice lap time 👍🏻

Lap time twins!

Added: Sorry to hear about how the race went for you. People are just horrible. Better luck next round!

 

[Raven-Sport]

You really have to short-shift that car like crazy. @Tidgney did a Beat the Meta video with it just recently, if you are looking for a lesson on how to drive the BMW Gr.4 car:

@Moose78 I meant to thank you for posting this but forgot. I had worked out that you had to short shift this weird car bit not to the extreme extent that is required.

I was going to miss this round as I am historically terrible at Suzuka, however a rare lazy Saturday presented itself and combined with the weather reports here I jumped in for one of the slots. Nothing to lose and wasn't bothered if I finished last.

GT2 DR.B/S lobby.

In typical me fashion, the track I am least comfortable with garnered my best result. Amazed to qualify P8, and finished P5. Especially considering I was the only BMW on the grid.

Alot of people didnt get the memo about the rain and 5 of them quit.

It was actually the cleanest race I have had in weeks, which was much needed, as the driving standards in ranked races have actually been putting me off playing them that much.

 

[AdxRE]

EMEA GT1 Slot #1 - 277 Points lobby, Door #2

No expectation for this one as I am so BAD in wet, and if my friends ranking of practice laps is anything to go by I would qualify closer to the end of field anyways.

Maybe everyone else had a poor lap in Quali, this happened.

In the race I actually managed to pull clear of the field by around 2.5s despite little errors here and there.

The sky grew darker starting on Lap 6 which prompted me to look at the weather radar at all time which to my surprise, it was sort of frozen, like static for the next few laps, despite the rain cloud clearly gathering al over Suzuka. By lap 10, spoon was wet (despite the reader showing no rain cloud movement) and by lap 11, hairpin to spoon was all wet.

Pitted at the end of Lap 11 to put on Inters, then my total lack of wet weather race pace shows and I was down to 6th in no time. At the wettest laps (18-19) I was 4 sec per lap slower than the cars in front. (Can anyone give me a wet weather Gr.3 driving crash course?)

By the end of Lap 23 I pitted for RH as the dry line was finally dry enough. I knew the pit exit was wet and set TC to 5. Sadly my throttle input was still too much and I half spun back to the grass. Lost maybe 3s and 1 position.

For the rest of the laps I simply wanted to bring it home as I don’t really fancy redoing this race (at least until I figure out wet weather driving). The Audi in P1 managed to pull a massive gap of 18s on the drying track, with P2, P3 and me in P4 within a sec of each other. I did get to P3 at one point but he got by again after I almost spun at the final chicane.

With P1 far ahead we (P2-4) crossed the line a sec from each other as we (unspokenly) probably agreed to bring it home than doing the 1.5 hours race again by screwing up each others race. Still, I would be happy even for P7/8 so I was very thrilled to finish P4 even though P2 was on the table.

Goodluck for your races!

TL: DR - if the weather pattern stays the same as my race, for GT1

• Weather radar may not reflect the true weather (!)
• Pit at the end of Lap 11 for IM
• Pit at the end of Lap 23 for RH (22 if you are far away from P1)
• Wet Pit exit alert! Be extra cautious at pit exit
• Bring it home, finishing the race without any major accident is an achievement by itself
• I put myself to P1 on the grid, sucked so badly in wet weather driving and finished P4 only

 

[appu]

Very clean lobby as usual for me, full of so many Caymans and the qualifying was dominated by Caymans as well. @afc5150 was there as well. I was shocked to see two things about him:
1. He had a lower door number than me!
2. Even more shockingly, he qualified below me. I am so used to seeing him doing pole to victory in every race of mine last year. He must be having an off moment.

Sorry AFC and everyone behind me for constantly holding up in the opening laps and having them bump into my rear with my early braking. There was no way for me to safely move over and not be mobbed then pushed out of the track. My Alfa Romeo 155 is really poor in corners and needs considerably earlier braking. And on top of it, I am absolutely horrid in Gr4 and below (I'm like 40% DR-B with those cars while I am currently 80% DR-B).

It was honestly a bit boring race. The rain failed to liven up the race. Very clean race in dry as well as in the rain as everyone cooperated with me in position exchanges. The only people caught out were the folks who were already at the bottom in the dry. I pit at the end of lap 10 because I could barely hold it together at lap 10 Spoon. I was gonna finish pretty low but the 4WD stability gained me a few spots. Ended the race just barely ahead of this gentleman in a Cayman.

 

[Stilva]

I entered the Noon GT2 Americas slot and was feeling confident as Suzuka is one of my better tracks to race at. I wish I go more practice in the rain, but I just didn't have the time.

I'm door #11 and qualify P9 which is fine as the entire room was quick. The race starts and I have some contact with another driver entering turn 1. They took exception at that and run me off the road entering the esses and I go deep into the gravel. The DQ warning came up that's how deep I was. I was going to quit, but I figured the rain would be the great equalizer when it came. So, I just turn laps and people spin and rage quit I find myself back in P9.

The rain comes and I baby the car through Spoon on lap 10 and then pit for inters. I think 3 drivers say in the chat they don't have rain tires and more spins and rage quits gets me to P5. P4 messes up in Degner 1 and runs wide and I make an attack for position. There was some contact when they rejoined the track and I might have squeezed them off track or they over corrected in Degner 2 and I get by. After a final 2 sketchy laps I take home P4 and 109 points.

I'll take that result and won't be running again. I'm looking forward to Daytona as it's always good track to race on.

 

[ElectricNaz]

Did the 9am race this morning, GT2. Door 9. Was really excited for this one. I enjoyed my practice here, the (Vantage V8) feels as good as it looks on this track. One of the few tracks I enjoy doing full manual gears, even using a controller.

Qualifying I was pole after the first run, but ended up P4. Slightly off my best, but I was happy enough. One driver was MILES ahead. I was surprised to see a couple of drivers well down the order as I know they're good, Senna being one of them (think they were q15?).

First few laps were good, Poet was in his own race in front, but 2, 3 and 4 (me) were all neck and neck, and pulling out a gap to 5th.

After a few laps, French driver went very wide at Degner 1, and allowed Coops and I through, he then dropped off a bit / coops and I picked up more pace in cleaner air.

Stayed like that until the rain fell. End of Lap 10, Poet, Coops, and Senna (now upto 4th, guys a magician I swear) all pitted. Weird, I thought. I was in the lead by 10 seconds when Poet emerged.

Lap 11, despite slightly increasing rain, I increased the lead to about 11.6s as the drys were defo better than inters over the lap. Lap 12 was a binfest - despite the radar showing nothing of note, the rain was heavy. I binned it onto the run off (thank you FIA for removing any gravel) at spoon when 13s ahead, and by the time I'd finished licking my wounds and made it back to the pits, I was only 3s ahead and went for inters. Even that was a bad decision, as when I came out I realised I probably should have skipped inters and gone onto full wets.

Managed to keep the car alive, extended the gap to 5th quite easily but was nowhere near getting close to 3rd.

Might be one lap out with lap numbers, but I know pitting a lap after everyone else would have been better as I did extend the lead on that one lap.

TL;DR - started 4th, finished 4th. 147 points, great result for me. I think I can have some real fun at Daytona on Weds in the V12 with high speed BOP! Another great circuit for me personally with manual gears a definite. Given the points I have in the bank now, I might give it everything to get a big score there - I'm usually one and done with races to play it safe, but now I can take risks (not driving like an idiot, I mean multiple races) with 4 rounds of really good (for me) points on the board. 130, 153, 127, 147.

BTW - is it best 3 scores or best 4 scores that count at the end?

 

[Seth_Logan]

I never thought I'd intentionally try to drive slower...

Live and learn.

Never did a rain race before, apart from a daily at Spa a few weeks ago. So I was very cautious. Actually scrap that... I would like to be audacious, but I currently suck at racing, qualifying, no racecraft and suck at the start. So being careful is simply the only road open to me. As soon as I start a race, all practice, all speed, everything goes "whoesh" and I freeze up. Inevitably people start passing me in the first corners and I have no route but to accept it. Some races are the exception, but this race and certainly at Suzuka is not one of them.

Starting door #12 I kinda hoped I would start last after quali, and almost did after I binned my second lap and started Q13.
Not even trying I had to let the other 2 cars through in the first corner already, which is becoming customary with my patented "Slow Start Seth" thing I have going with myself. So I got out of the way and potentialy some sort of incident. I already showed my pride the door in the last race going full ASM and Counter Steering, so I had no reservations also adding in TC5 for good measure in this race. I was not going to go of track in the rain, that was for sure. In fact I was not going anywhere it seems... in what can only be discribed as a modern interpetation of the turtle and the hare, I was crawling through the field so slow I could actually see the crowd popping their umbrella's open.

But as is usual when you are driving from the back; you always pass the poorer sods that had this or that encounter with a fellow human being. And there were plenty a those. Never held on to spots gained though. And as these intens games go, for some the pressure is just too much and they quit. So in the end I finished P11 just shy of 2 meters from the finish line... really 2 meters...

Figures.

I really have to get my act together. Daytona is a new track to me, but it's a fast track with only a few corners so I hope I get something done. I need that!

 

[Roggers]

Lap time twins!

Added: Sorry to hear about how the race went for you. People are just horrible. Better luck next round!

Hahaha. My optimal time is a 02:2xx but just couldn’t hook it together every lap. Interesting to see we are both very similar with DR, and lap times each week.


Ah it is what it is with that race. I’ve chilled out now and all good. Shame I could only do that 1 slot. Could have done slot 2, but was way too angry to race. I just knew an exploit would come into effect here and all for a P7! They were obviously desperate for that P7.

 

[Interemptor]

Race in my alt. Door #10, Same 83 pts for the win as on my main.

Qualified on P4.

Not a good and definitly no clean race on my part. In Turn 1 of Lap 1 I hit a Supra on the right backside. Didn't expect him to break so early but after watching the replay I saw that he had to because of a Porsche in front breaking really early. Should have waited there and apologized to him after the race.

Race overall was good. The driver in the Mustang was on P1, almost 1s faster then P2 in qualifying but struggled in the race. Lost the lead early on and i was at his back over a couple of laps. Was faster but didn't want be so aggressive after the incident at Lap 1. Many chances were he made a mistake and I let of the throttle.

Got himself a penalty at the last turn in Lap 7 and ind lap 8 at the long left hander before the Degners he ran very wide and I finally saw a big opening. He switched back to the inside , my nose was at his front mirror, and we made contact. He was a bit off track and I waited to let him pass back.

Pitted in lap 10 and tried full wets this time. Came out in P3 with a Ferrari, who didn't pit yet, right behind me. Let him pass because this part of the track was dry and fighting would have been pointless.

Passed 2 cars at spoon after they went off track and closed the gap to P1. He fought hard with his car.

The race lead changed multiple times yet everything was fair and clean. Until the last lap.

I had a bad exit out of spoon and was thinking P2 is a great result and wanted to bring it home safely. Then he got a penalty at 130R and overshot the last turn. I took P1 10s before the finish line.

In the replay it was obvious what he wanted to do, happened so often before, but luckily for me he got ghosted a few cm before he hit me.

83 Pts for 1st yet it doesn't feel like a win because of the mistakes and the poor guy i hit in T1 of Lap 1.

 

[Zorz]

So, so tired after doing that. I did GT1 slot 1 and I'm still feeling drained now. That's such a colossal effort, especially in VR. MORE LIKE THAT PLEASE POLYPHONY.

This ended up being so similar to the last time it happened, I'd call deja vu if I wasn't with a different manufacturer this time. I qualified P9 in the Alfa and whilst my pace was better so that I wasn't being swarmed like last time, I still ended up making a mistake at turn 1 a few laps into the race that cost me some positions, and then falling back afterwards.

I pit for Intermediates at the end of lap 11 to play it safe and once again it paid off gaining several positions as people stayed out far too long and died at Spoon. I went from P11 at the end of lap 10 when people started pitting up to P7 at the start of lap 14. I rose as high as P5 for a while between others making mistakes and penalties, but between being so cautious on the final stint and just comparatively poor pace when things had truly dried out I fell back down to P7 again by the end.

I think I definitely need to work on my confidence in mixed conditions. My full race time was about 10 seconds faster than my September run. However, this time I was 30 seconds off the winner. Last time I was just 3 seconds behind. I don't think I'm bad per se, but definitely not as competitive as I'd like at my DR level.

I find I'm better when the whole track becomes soaked quickly, because that ends up being much closer to the way I practice. Having some parts of the track considerably wetter than others is something I'll say I prefer due to being more realistic, but definitely messes with my muscle memory.

At least I took away 192 points, a decent upgrade over the 170 I picked up in round 1 in case I can't do better in the last two rounds.

​

Now onto Daytona, where I'm hoping the Alfa will be decently competitive. I've also got a special livery lined up for it as well. After being introduced to this over a year ago, I've been waiting for a Daytona round.

​

However, all the Daytona rounds that have come up have either had liveries disabled or I've just not been available for them. But now...

Horses on the livery add more horsepower, right?

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Beautiful sunset in todays race, shame not many took time to appreciate it though 😔:

I only qualified 7th but the 911 always comes alive when the rain starts to fall, and after it has stopped its a beaut on a drying circuit. The other 911 crashed out fairly early and the closest competitors then were a few front engine cars (2x GT-R and a Vantage) and a Ferrari, this was the winning move for 338 points:

 

[dazdilly75]

This race was mid in every way.
Slot1: qualified 14th after a shocking quali session. Got taken out toward the end of lap 1. No damage luckily. Found myself 22 seconds behind the leaders by lap 2. Fought my way back to 11th place, but I was over a minute behind the leaders, so I didn't even finish before the end of race countdown. A race to forget.

Slot 2: qualified 10th with a 2:01.1xx nowhere near my TT time of 2:00.456. I'm not sure what's going on with my quali over the last 2 rounds??? I think it's nerves. Anyway, I was well aware that people would crash out in front of me, so I just kept things clean and precise. Even when I was under pressure from other drivers, I just ran my own race. Pitted lap 12 and 24. This seemed to be the safest option with very little danger, compared to trying to undercut. The race leader crashed and by the time I came out on to the wet to dry transition, I was in 10th. A few more crashes from 3 more drivers ahead and I was in 6th, with about 7 laps to go. I was under immense pressure from a French guy in 8th, in a 4C but he couldn't make up the 5 second gap I had on him. I brought it home in 7th, with an improvement over my Deep Forest score. 213 to 230pts (Suzuka). I'm now on 781pts after 3 counted rounds. I'm happy with today. DR gained and 3 places gained. I'm accepting my place within my split, as one of the slower guys, who is able to hold his own and finish mid pack. On to Daytona.

 

[smcqueen46]

Not as good as the P3 I lost due to a glitch, but I'll take it! Gained several positions in the rain. Changed to IM on lap 9 and that seemed to work out for me.

 

[fardoche]

GT2 slot, Q5.

Climbed up to 3rd then the rain starts
Wheather map is completely zoomed out, I it looks to me that it won't last, just a small greenish spot...
I don't pit,.. keep going .I'm 1st...light rain it will be ok... Then I realize, I forgot to zoom in the map... I see the big blue spot....
It is too late, I manage to pit..but lost many positions.

Finished P9 for 109 pts.

I will do a proper run later.

 

[Eggstor]

I got some dry practice in my Corvette Gr.4, getting a 2:13.6. My 15-car all-D/S 2 pm CDT room had 20 points for the win, 3 AWD cars (a Genesis, a Nissan and a Lamborghini), and me wearing door #7 and needing 9th to replace my low-score 12-point race. I'm going to be slow enough and far enough back without qualifying that, given the weather report, trying to make it 11 laps on slicks is a no-go.

I was one of 3 cars to not take a time, settling for 14th. Pole time was 2:12.2 from the Alfa, so my hopes aren't high for this race. I was still disappointed. As predicted, I was slow, but I had made it up to 9th on lap 7 thanks to others' misfortune when I absolutely cooked it in the Casio Triangle, giving back all the spots among the 13 running.

As I had no speed, with my 2:15.6 fast lap the worst among the 13 drivers who made it to the rain and nearly 3 seconds slower than the leading (and winning) Lexus, I decided to short-pit on lap 9 out of last along with one of the back-marker Porsches out of 11th. I had nothing for even him.

Most of the cars came down on lap 10, mostly for intermediates, handing the lead to an Aston Martin. The two backmarking Ferraris also stayed out, behind the fast Lexus. The fastest of the Ferraris put on a fresh set of hards to start lap 11 in 5th, with the Nissan on full wets in 6th and the fast Porsche on full wets coming out 8th, behind the other backmarking Porsche, which stayed out. The pole-sitter went straight to the garage out of 2nd to give me a free spot.

On lap 11, the Aston really struggled, while the backmarking Ferraris made it through Casio Triangle in 2nd and 3rd, and the Ferrari that took fresh hards kept 5th. 2nd place came down for intermediates; the other 2 Ferraris didn't.

I got by the Aston, still on hards, in the hairpin on lap 12 to finally not be the last car running. The Porsche and backmarking Ferrari still on hards pitted, with the Porsche doing just a stop-and-go and the Ferrari finally putting on intermediates. That got me to 9th.

I got by the Ferrari that put on a second set of hards in the esses the following lap for 8th. On lap 14, the AMG had a disastrous lap, going off at 130R and falling from 3rd to 8th.

He quickly caught back up to me between the esses and anti-bank curve, and rather than wait until I got through NIPPO corner and could let him by, he drove right through me. Fortunately, the game ghosted us, so there was no harm. What was harmful, however, was me spinning out in the last corner. I couldn't get back going, but somehow got back to the line just before time expired to take a gifted 8th (of 9 who had rain tires), 14 points (a net +2), and no DR change.

 

[bliprunner]

Wasn't sure if I'd race today as my practice pace was average and I wasn't too confident about the rain... but very I'm glad I did.

GT1 second UK slot, door 12, a predictably average quail lap was enough for 13th. By the end of lap 1 I'm in the top ten thanks to an overtake in the Esses and two crashers. I'm moving forward and on lap 3 I'm in the slipstream of the Porsche ahead...

Down the main straight he's got his hazards on and moves left, I take the inside and expect him to let me go at turn one, I'm not level but I'm alongside enough to be given room...

He turns in and we touch, no damage done but he goes wide and rejoins in P11. No investigation necessary. Pace is now good and as the skies darken I work my way up to P5...

I knew I wasn't going to do 35 laps without any errors though and on lap 11 I made the classic turn one mistake, dipping a wheel onto the green... and around she goes...

Rejoin in P8 and then pit at the end of the lap with a McLaren just ahead. To my surprise my wet pace is really strong and I work my way up again to P3 by the time I pit for hards on lap 25. No idea where this speed came from, but was definitely helped by some really clean racing from everyone around me.

Now with a 6 second gap behind all I need to do is bring it home... and I instantly lose all that time with a couple of trips onto the grass and eventually had to make way for the two cars behind who were snapping at my heels.

As the sun set I was happy to get into a groove again and bring it home in P5, another solid result and a super enjoyable race. Feel knackered now but that's why I like these events, takes you on a proper journey.

 

[ZEE]

Well....well....welll Suzuka took me for a bloody good ride today and then some!

Started off, logging onto GT7 and had to do a late afternoon slot due to other worldy stuff. So did the quick 240sx TT and then came onto the Sport races of the cup. Did some qulifiying and did an ok time of 2:13 and entered the race, qualifying was a shamble everyone in my group was all lover the place. Not giving way to faster cars and slopping about before the race.

Then the 1st race of 2 I tried today. What can I say about this race but it was absolutley atrocious, I wont say much but I made a collosal mistake and didn't check my tytres and only had RH tires up until the pits and had no wet tyres at all. A Ferrari halway thru also pitted me into the gravel on the long straight and that put me in last with numerous players rage quitting before & after me so left me in 13th. I struggled on RH tires till the end and got lapped and ended my race early, well the game did on Lap 14 due to slow pace, LOL!

Race no.2 - I took a break to re-focus and practiced a bit more with the Corvette gr.4 on Suzuka, this time was much better, overall laptime improved and then qualified in 9th position. Alright so far so good onto the race. I fought hard and fast around it till lap 7-8 gaining places as people span out and lost positons, I was steadily jumping up to 6th, then got chased by a Ferrari driver and he got the better of me until the pits on lap 10, switched over to IM tires as I had made sure I equipped them this time round. They werent the best choice and I wish I went with wet tyres as they would have given me more pace as the heavens opened near the last few laps and it chucked down wth Rain. I perserved and managed to obtain 5th place in the race, good chunk of points and overall more improved racing on my part!

This race proved harder but strategic at best, but I choose to not rage at it and try again and it paid off! Hopefully Round 5 at Daytona will more nutty, intense and fun.
LFG!

 

[stpatty]

Practiced twice yesterday, practiced once today. Decided... well, decided various things on strategy which all went out the window during the race.

Qualified second with a 2:11.2, three tenths off an Aston in first. The Hungarian in the GT-R who beat me at Interlagos last week started 3rd. The Aston and I pulled away a bit through the esses to start. I knew I could do laps in the 10s in practice, but I hadn't really factored in fuel or tyres having an effect so I was a bit cautious and happy to follow the leader.

End of the first lap, Aston both brakes too late and catches some gravel going into the chicane. He does well to survive and come out in 4th. I take the lead with the gap to 2nd. increasing. Any time I look back the Porsche behind him seems to be gaining, so at least they're going to fight a bit.

It's all going well until the start of lap 6. By this point the Porsche has taken 2nd, but I still have a lead of about 5.5 seconds. As I'm going down the pit straight I decide to do a few things - try and relax a bit and take a drink because it's boiling. And turn the brake balance from 2 to 3 because I've convinced myself I can't feel the front end gripping as much. Looking at the replay now they're 15% worn at most, what a clown. I'll choose to believe the BB adjustment is what sends me sideways, but I think I just cooked it. For a horrible moment I thought I was going to do a 360 but it was more a 150 degree turn onto the grass at the inside. I recover and I'm 2.5 seconds behind the leader.

We trade fast laps. He's faster in the first half of the lap, I'm better in the second. It starts raining as usual on lap 9 and I we get round. On lap 10 he goes a bit deep at Spoon and I get a bit closer. I decide I'm going to do the opposite of him at the pits but I don't, I just follow him round. By this point we're both quite a bit clear of 3rd, so it really just looks like a two way battle for the win.

By the time we get to Spooon on lap 11 I know I'll have to crawl through it since I'm still on slicks. The Porsche doesn't and goes gliding into the gravel. I take the lead and we both pit for inters. A few other cars stay out. I let a Supra past me in the esses since that part of the track is still dry and I'm going wide, but it's fine. By the time we get to Spoon that Supra and another Aston go off so I get by with no problems. The initial Aston who was on pole was back in the lead by this point and he went off too, so I caught right up to him too and took him easily at the chicane, as I expecting him to pit.

He didn't though, and I was so taken aback by this there was a bit of contact in the esses and he went off. I don't think I really did anything wrong - I was ahead, on the inside, about a tyre's width away from the kerb and he tapped my left rear corner. Watching the replay back he was in the wars a bit when he rejoined, so I don't feel too bad. He ended up quitting too, I don't think he had any wet tyres.

From there we can skip to the TLDR section of the post:

A very annoying 99 points for my troubles into the bargain. All hail 4WD. Shout out for the Aston at the bottom of that board who ran the whole race on hards. I think he was the only one who didn't quit.

 

[tmtk]

Ok, decided to try one more race after previous qualifying disaster.

EMEA, GT2, mid B/S, 107 points lobby, door 7

This time my qualifying time was much better (2:11.8), but only good enough for 7th spot.
I think there wasn't any big lap 1 drama, besides my missing braking point for the chicane...

Luckily I did not hit anyone in the process, dropped to 9th.

In the next two laps I capitalised on others' errors and moved up to 6th, including another incident at the chicane (or a little before it).

Pestered the dutch Subaru long enough to make him do a mistake in turn 9 (that was lap 4)

So now sitting in 5th, laps passing and trouble happening ahead, the pole sitter in Lexus makes few serious mistakes and drops back to me like a stone. First people ahead pit on lap 8 (which seems a little too early), but on lap 9 the Lexus makes a bad run through chicane and that allows me to overtake him on the outisde going into main straight.

Lambo far ahead pits on lap 10 and that makes me 2nd for a short moment. I repeat my "careful Spoon on lap 10" and "super careful Spoon on lap 11" with super quick run on slicks in between without any incident. Pitting at the end of lap 11 for full wets.
Lambo is now ahead, as is Porsche who leads the race (also one poor sod that stayed on slicks because he had no other tires available - he was gone soon enough).
But Porsche struggles with wets and Lambo combining 4WD with inters and perfect execution is unstoppable. Takes the lead and Porsche slowly drops back to me. Last two laps we battle very intensely, I was a little bit quicker, but they defended well and I didn't want to shove myself into them with force, but we took the battle nearly to the end.

It was clean and fair fight, I enjoyed it. The Subaru from behind closed in quick due to us fighting, but luckily we completed the podium.

I must say (after replay review), it was all around mostly clean battle at least in the top half, people minding others around them and showing ability to lift when there's the risk of unnecessary contact.

My 3rd place gave me 98 points which is my all time top result, cool!

 

[jrbabbitt]

Not including today's results...

 

[SPL170db]

First NA GT1 slot

Another what could have been I suppose. I'm starting to feel like a have a sign on the back of my car that says "Central and South American drivers please push me off the track at your earliest convenience" because it keeps happening in every race now it seems. 🤷‍♂️

Anyway....screwed up qualifying again and started 12th on the grid. On the first lap a nice Mexican gentleman shoved me off into the gravel in the esses and proceeded along his merry way making no effort to slow down....once again, no penalties. Sent me all the way back to last. Just grinded it out back up to 7th @ the end. Not playing this one again either.

 

[Dep Fishtail]

GT1 slot 1 NA. Qualified about half second off my FP again so I’m getting a little better at the Q thing.

Q12 and finished p8. Should have been better but I was moving the selection button to rh after lap 24 and accidentally hit IM again 😭. Came out p6 did one lap and had to pit again after lap 25 because stupid. Came out in p7 this time and really pushed hard because I was sure that any gap I had was gone. On about lap 30 I got a little too far off the dry line going up the hill after the esses and nearly lost it. The save cost me a lot of time and had a car pass then I held my position to finish p8.

No damage and no off track excursions felt good and this threading the needle coming out of spoon on lap one was very exciting.

 

[Yard_Sale]

My race in a nutshell. One and done for me today

 

[GTWolverine]

After not really feeling this combo in FP (the Corvette hates RH tires apparently), I was trying to be optimistic that chaos would work in my favor...
Slot 1: Loaded as car #16 in a room with a bunch of decently quick names, so right away wasn't expecting too much, but I qualified a surprising 8th (and first Corvette) with a 2:01.0. I held 8th until the end of Lap 5 when the Ferrari in 4th spun in the final corner. I stayed in 7th until Lap 13 when a Porsche decided to stay on Hards and was then unceremoniously moved out of the way at 130R by a Peugeot that was caught out by the slick-shod Porsche having to brake so early. I was then in P6 for a few laps until another Porsche almost lost it in the final turn when the rain became torrential on Lap 15, allowing me and the Viper that had been tailing me to catch him. He braked slightly early into T1, catching both me and the Viper out. I was a bit more prepared and ducked up the inside to avoid a collision, but the Viper was less prepared and hit the Porsche, sending it spinning directly in front of me and sending the Viper off track into the gravel on the outside of T1.


That brief bit of excitement moved me into 5th, where I stayed until I pitted on Lap 21 (which turned out to be a lap too early). By this point an Aston wasn't too far behind me and would've easily overtaken me due to my strategy error if he hadn't spun leaving the pits. I made an error at T1 and slid off the dry line into the gravel on Lap 25, but fortunately the car behind me (a Ferrari this time) did the exact same thing, so no positions lost.

It was looking like a relatively easy cruise to 5th place as long as I kept the car on the dry part, but then the leader (with a gap of probably over 10s to P2) got disconnected on Lap 28 and promoted me to 4th. I tip-toed the rest of the race and lost a ton of time to both P3 and P5 so that P3 was 28s ahead of me, while P5 went from being over a pit stop behind me to just 3s at the end of the race, but I bagged P4 for 284 points and the honor of being the best-placed Corvette out of the 3 that started the race. And for the first time since the official season began (including Nation's) I actually managed to get the desired results in my first attempt.

 

[JDMKING13]

Man that race was intense!! Messed up Qualifying just a tab bit.. putting me at P9… Made a grave mistake and caught dirt opening lap.. dropping me to last place… what saved me… I was a monster in the rain.. I caught a lot of people…me and another car stayed out during lap 12.. that helped me big time… just had to crawl around spoon…

Another crazy incident was coming out of the pits with the hard tires… 3 people got into a crazy accident I thought I was gone for sure… I guy spun and hit two other cars coming out of the pit… after that I just had to bring My Ferrari home… extremely stressful… These A+ rooms are just different on how good the guys are sheesh! 216 points I’ll take it!

Shot out the bro @Yard_Sale for bringing home P4! You are a great driver man.. I need some lesson from you for sure lol!

 

[jrbabbitt]

I may not be super hot or top split but I do good in the level I am in and I'm ok with that....

 

[Spider-Racer]

You guys know that Martin Brundle quote about drivers like Senna or Verstappen? That they know where the grip is in a corner before driving through it?
.
.
.
Yeah, I don't have that 😅

Q13 > P9 for 237 points, which at least replace my sub-200 from Round 1.
I do think I'm better at taking virtual photos than both Max or Senna would be, though.