Assetto Corsa Competizione | Season 13 Round 2 | GT4 Mini-Series @ Suzuka

[davejm]

Tempted by a Reverb G2 😆

[winky]

Dave’s latest rig mods:

 

[davejm]

 

Morning guys.  It's race day!!!

 

Don't forget to register if you're taking part.

@extremepabs, @Yannik, @SANtoOos you racing?

[winky]

Nice, love these circuits that just throw these corners at you.

 

Last night was a bit frustrating. I could barely get faster with no fuel in the car. However my objective was to get quicker in turns 1 and 2 and I guess that worked.

 

What lap will I spin off this week? 🤔

[Meers]

11 hours ago, davejm said:

Thanks @Meers, I've just ordered some from Amazon to come tomorrow so hopefully they'll sort out the problem.

 

I hope so too mate. Sorry for all the jesting above, but it really sucks if unexpected stuff like that happens. I think it's incredible how much EM the DD emits. Is that stuff even healthy for, say, people with pacemakers?

[davejm]

Just now, Meers said:

 

I hope so too mate. Sorry for all the jesting above, but it really sucks if unexpected stuff like that happens. I think it's incredible how much EM the DD emits. Is that stuff even healthy for, say, people with pacemakers?

 

The jesting is good!  Don't stop

[Meers]

39 minutes ago, davejm said:

The jesting is good!  Don't stop

 

Ok, in that case... 😉

 

Dave, yesterday:

 

"I think I've set the FEI too high..."

 

I had my brother over last night (hadn't done so since before the pandemic) which was awsome. He had a go with the Macca 720S on Monza and Spa* with my new GT3 rim and was amazed by the setup and the feedback, especially the number of buttons and actions you have to perform before driving off (ingition, starter, pit limiter, clutch), quote "this is pretty next-level stuff compared to what I use". So I let him hold that thought and didn't show him Dave's rig. 😜

 

* They were the only 2 tracks in ACC that he knows from other games. The feedback really kicked in proper at Spa with the elevation changes. He did a pretty good job too, and found it felt really intuitive. He took these pics for reference (he would like to upgrade as well):

 

That clock is out of batteries mind you.

 

The simhub app on my phone in action.

[davejm]

OK, more wheel impressions.  I'm posting them here as I've only tried ACC.

 

Gotta say this... if you've got a decent belt driven wheel (TS-PC, CSL Elite, CSW 2.5 etc) I'd be happy with what you have.  The CSL-DD feels amazing, and very smooth; but when I was practicing yesterday and 'in the zone' you just forget about the equipment.   It isn't such a massive improvement.

 

Coming from a low end wheel would see a big benefit (I'd suspect); and even from a T300 would be good due to the extra power.  And I am benefiting from some extra torque over the TS-PC (which I was running on 100% in driver & in-game).

 

I love it, but @SharkyOB I think you made the good choice in sticking with what you have considering you like the Ferrari rim on the TS-PC.

[SharkyOB]

3 minutes ago, davejm said:

OK, more wheel impressions.  I'm posting them here as I've only tried ACC.

 

Gotta say this... if you've got a decent belt driven wheel (TS-PC, CSL Elite, CSW 2.5 etc) I'd be happy with what you have.  The CSL-DD feels amazing, and very smooth; but when I was practicing yesterday and 'in the zone' you just forget about the equipment.   It isn't such a massive improvement.

 

Coming from a low end wheel would see a big benefit (I'd suspect); and even from a T300 would be good due to the extra power.  And I am benefiting from some extra torque over the TS-PC (which I was running on 100% in driver & in-game).

 

I love it, but @SharkyOB I think you made the good choice in sticking with what you have considering you like the Ferrari rim on the TS-PC.

 

Yeah, it was a complicated decision weighing up lots of factors, otherwise I'd probably have cancelled much earlier!  I did suspect it wouldn't exactly be the second coming after being used to a high-end belt driven wheel and in the end losing the rim and the buttons on the base seemed like too much of a compromise.  I'm still really keen to see what Thrustmaster announce, DD wise, though.

[Count Buffalos]

How much of a step up is the TS-PC from the T300? It looks like the base is available for about £240. 

[Meers]

22 minutes ago, davejm said:

Gotta say this... if you've got a decent belt driven wheel (TS-PC, CSL Elite, CSW 2.5 etc) I'd be happy with what you have.  The CSL-DD feels amazing, and very smooth; but when I was practicing yesterday and 'in the zone' you just forget about the equipment. It isn't such a massive improvement.

 

Coming from a low end wheel would see a big benefit (I'd suspect); and even from a T300 would be good due to the extra power.  And I am benefiting from some extra torque over the TS-PC (which I was running on 100% in driver & in-game).

 

Surely you'd think the jump from belt-drive to direct-drive is as big as the jump from gear-drive to belt-drive? When I went from the OG Xbox 360 wheel to the CSR, it was a massive improvement. The jump from the CSR to the CSL wasn't as big as both are belt-driven, but with more torque for the CSL. So your findings genuinely surprised me!

 

I take it that you're still very keen with the upgrade regardless? I appreciate the honest impression though, and I will stick with my BD setup for now (was thinking to move to DD as well early next year and pass the CSL to my brother).

[SharkyOB]

41 minutes ago, Count Buffalos said:

How much of a step up is the TS-PC from the T300? It looks like the base is available for about £240. 

 

Not huge tbh, there's defo a law of diminishing returns as you move up the ranks of belt driven bases.  I used a T300 for years and I'd probably still be happy with it, although for me, the upgrade was worth it for the rim.  I don't think I'd recommend it if you were going to buy the base to use with a rim without the additional controls.

[davejm]

19 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

Surely you'd think the jump from belt-drive to direct-drive is as big as the jump from gear-drive to belt-drive? When I went from the OG Xbox 360 wheel to the CSR, it was a massive improvement. The jump from the CSR to the CSL wasn't as big as both are belt-driven, but with more torque for the CSL. So your findings genuinely surprised me!

 

I take it that you're still very keen with the upgrade regardless? I appreciate the honest impression though, and I will stick with my BD setup for now (was thinking to move to DD as well early next year and pass the CSL to my brother).

 

Top-end belt wheels hit pretty high torque; so unless you want to replicate super high forces from older cars then even with a DD wheel you're not going to increase the force feedback strength that much.  I'm running only slightly more than I was with the TS-PC.  So you get that extra fidelity, but in a lot of cases aren't pushing such extra forces through the wheel.

 

Jumping from gear to belt; you getting much better fidelity AND much higher forces at the same time.  The jump from a T150 (which my Son was using) to a TS-PC was much greater than the jump I'm feeling from the TS-PC to CSL-DD.

[EuroVapeSim2]

I did some practice last night and while I get my tires in the right pressure range the temps on the right side are below 70°c. I've already closed up the brake ducts as much as possible and increasing the toe a couple of clicks didn't seem to do much either. It's there any other methods to increase the temps or do I just have to accept the temps as they are?

[Erik]

2 minutes ago, EuroVapeSim2 said:

I did some practice last night and while I get my tires in the right pressure range the temps on the right side are below 70°c. I've already closed up the brake ducts as much as possible and increasing the toe a couple of clicks didn't seem to do much either. It's there any other methods to increase the temps or do I just have to accept the temps as they are?

 

Brake ducts and pads have by far the greatest effect. Then toe and camber. Everything else very minor. Sometimes you just cant get them within optimal temperature range.

[SharkyOB]

Correct pressure is way more important anyway. 

[EuroVapeSim2]

Thanks guys I'll leave the pressures as is, I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong with the setup. 

 

I've been watching some of the aris.drive setup videos and it's eye-opening the detail that is simulated in ACC

[milko]

Good things tonight for me:

• Qualified way higher than my pace deserved
• Had a ludicrously good start to race 2
• Didnt take anybody else out on any of the numerous occasions I messed up

less said about the rest, the better. It’s been a real up and down season for me, still so much to learn. Onwards to Imola!

[Erik]

Dont crash in the chicane, dont crash in the chicane, dont crash in the chicane

 

https://streamable.com/vwhu0l

[davejm]

Good stuff guys.  Really enjoyed that, despite the eye irritation which caused my first race retirement!!

 

In other news.  I fixed my tracking issues!  There's an option in the Quest 2 settings to change the tracking mode between Auto / 50hz / 60hz; and a change to 60hz fixed it!!   FFS!   All that faffing with cables and ferrite cores...

 

... to celebrate I did a 20 minute public lobby race at Zolder and finished 6/30!  Not too shabby.  Was 4th for a lot of the race but got overtaken by a couple of aliens who clearly qualified out of position.  Was fun, and the tracking has never been more stable!

[Valver]

I bloody loved the races this evening...

 

I felt comfortable with the track - especially the chicane in the middle of the course - I seemed to have decent speed through there and be able to close up and then harry people through the hairpin that follows.

 

Qualifying didn't go so well though, so I started both races towards the back.

 

All I can really remember from Race 1 is blasting round following Nick for lap after lap - great battle!  And then I looked up as I crossed the finish line and found I'd collected a 5th place.   The replay doesn't show much for the later part of the race - no idea why:

 

 

And then race 2 started with more blasting round bothering Nick again, until I spun and put myself 10seconds behind.  I then drove some really good laps and managed to claw all that time back - and then smoothly overtake him with two laps to go to the finish.  I was so pumped!  And then I caught Paul and on the very last lap decided "go for it" in a late braking manoeuvre up the inside on the final hairpin.  Sadly it was a little too late and I didn't make the apex, Paul took the place back, and Nick sneaked through too. 

 

Ah well, at least I felt I had tried.  It may not have been the final result I'd hoped for - but I really enjoyed the racing. 

 

 

And now look at the leaderboard!  1 point between 1st and 2nd place, and just 3 points cover 4th 5th and 6th!

 

 

 

The last race is double points, right @davejm?

 

So all to play for still!!

 

 

[davejm]

3 minutes ago, Valver said:

The last race is double points, right @davejm?

 

1.5x the points of a normal Endurance week.

[Meers]

8 hours ago, davejm said:

In other news.  I fixed my tracking issues!  There's an option in the Quest 2 settings to change the tracking mode between Auto / 50hz / 60hz; and a change to 60hz fixed it!!   FFS!   All that faffing with cables and ferrite cores...

 

Nice one mate! And a simple solution as well! Now you don't have to confront bad memes from forumites again, such as this one:

 

Dave, last night:

"increase framerate..."

 

Also glad that your eye issue wasn't too serious. Combination of reduced blinking and low framerate? What was the framerate set at before?

 

As for me... I am absolutely at a loss about my bad performance last night. And this is one of my favourite tracks even. It was as if I was towing a braking parachute or something. At one point Valver spun so I was close behind him after he rejoined the track, but he was 2 seconds per lap faster than me. I hit the chicanes the same way as him, same braking points, the works...but still much slower. And I couldn't figure out why, until after spending nearly an hour watching the replays afterwards...when I switched to @Erik's car. He seemed to blast over the kerbs in the first chicane as if he was driving a hovercraft, his car didn't seem to GAF. So I take it that my suspension was too low and stiff. I wasn't aware you were allowed to cut the chicanes that much without getting a track limits warning?

 

Zolder is weird, man.

[Erik]

2 minutes ago, Meers said:

As for me... I am absolutely at a loss about my bad performance last night. And this is one of my favourite tracks even. It was as if I was towing a braking parachute or something. At one point Valver spun so I was close behind him after he rejoined the track, but he was 2 seconds per lap faster than me. I hit the chicanes the same way as him, same braking points, the works...but still much slower. And I couldn't figure out why, until after spending nearly an hour watching the replays afterwards...when I switched to @Erik's car. He seemed to blast over the kerbs in the first chicane as if he was driving a hovercraft, his car didn't seem to GAF. So I take it that my suspension was too low and stiff. I wasn't aware you were allowed to cut the chicanes that much without getting a track limits warning?

 

Zolder is weird, man.

 

Yeah, you just throw the car into the first chicane and hope it sticks. Every lap its slightly different but somehow it works. Something that also works is touching only the first or the second kerb, and using some throttle when touching them to stabilize the car a bit. I used same setup as in Oulton Park, so my car was very soft and raised, though I feel I should have raised it by couple of mm more or used stiffer front wheelrates because it still bottomed out a lot on those red anti-cut kerbs as you could see in the video in my previous post. I was 8-9 tenths off the pace I know I can do in Bentley but game performance was pretty good, I only had a handful of freezes.

 

Did anyone else have trouble seeing braking and turn in points in the dark? First laps in race 1 were the worst 😁

[milko]

8 minutes ago, Erik said:

 

Did anyone else have trouble seeing braking and turn in points in the dark? First laps in race 1 were the worst

 

Yes, hugely so, I was all over the place in the first laps. Even more than I normally am. 

[davejm]

21 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

Nice one mate! And a simple solution as well! Now you don't have to confront bad memes from forumites again, such as this one:

 

Dave, last night:

"increase framerate..."

 

Also glad that your eye issue wasn't too serious. Combination of reduced blinking and low framerate? What was the framerate set at before?

 

As for me... I am absolutely at a loss about my bad performance last night. And this is one of my favourite tracks even. It was as if I was towing a braking parachute or something. At one point Valver spun so I was close behind him after he rejoined the track, but he was 2 seconds per lap faster than me. I hit the chicanes the same way as him, same braking points, the works...but still much slower. And I couldn't figure out why, until after spending nearly an hour watching the replays afterwards...when I switched to @Erik's car. He seemed to blast over the kerbs in the first chicane as if he was driving a hovercraft, his car didn't seem to GAF. So I take it that my suspension was too low and stiff. I wasn't aware you were allowed to cut the chicanes that much without getting a track limits warning?

 

Zolder is weird, man.

 

The 50/60hz thing isn't to do with the framerate of the display; but the frequency that the cameras run for the tracking of your head position.  The framerate inside the headset is a locked 72fps for me  So nothing to do with the eye issue.  I really don't know what to make of that... I was in a bit of a panic because I was doing so well in the race, so couldn't quite work out what was happening.  I remember that both of my eyes were watery, and the right eye felt irritated so I poked inside the headset to rub it and that made it worse.  And then some sweat started to come inside from the facial interface thingy.

 

Shame about your Zolder performance.  If I'd have known in the week you were struggling I'd have tried to get on and give some pointers (I practiced more than usual this week - benefits of being newly single !!).  I managed times close to Erik and I didn't take the curbs like he did; I don't think you can do that safely in the McLaren in a race situation.  Second chicane is where you probably weren't cutting in enough.  As long as you stay either side of the cones you're OK (until someone takes them out!).

[davejm]

3 minutes ago, milko said:

 

Yes, hugely so, I was all over the place in the first laps. Even more than I normally am. 

 

Me too @Erik and @milko!    Was a real struggle at the start of that first race.

[SharkyOB]

Miserable night for me, my pace wasn't terrible but I was making far too many mistakes and getting involved in silly incidents.  Don't postpone the last race for me @davejm I think I need a little break at the moment.

[davejm]

Just now, SharkyOB said:

Miserable night for me, my pace wasn't terrible but I was making far too many mistakes and getting involved in silly incidents.  Don't postpone the last race for me @davejm I think I need a little break at the moment.

 

OK mate, no worries.  I was just going to ask but if you're sure.

 

I'm just sorting out the new season schedule and it will be a mini 5 week GT4 season running up to Christmas.  Maybe the GT4 cars will be easier to jump in and be up to a good pace without the practice?  You always did seem very good in those cars.   I think this will be a nice change to move away from GT3 for a bit.

[SharkyOB]

22 minutes ago, davejm said:

 

OK mate, no worries.  I was just going to ask but if you're sure.

 

I'm just sorting out the new season schedule and it will be a mini 5 week GT4 season running up to Christmas.  Maybe the GT4 cars will be easier to jump in and be up to a good pace without the practice?  You always did seem very good in those cars.   I think this will be a nice change to move away from GT3 for a bit.

 

Oh yeah, I'm totally going to be back whatever we're racing and I'd be at the final round if I wasn't on my hols!  Just came out of last night feeling pretty down.  Race 1 was a write-off and then race 2 went horribly wrong after it started well.  I don't think I'm in a good mindset at the moment; if I get caught up in an incident or make a mistake, I push too hard to compensate and end up making things worse.