Assetto Corsa Competizione | Season 14 Round 3 | GT3 Sprint @ Valencia

[Count Buffalos]

28 minutes ago, Valver said:

I was very surprised to find that not only was I behind you in the middle of the race, but for a few laps I gained on you until I was all over your bumper.   Then I missed an apex and dropped back, where I stayed for a while as I re-composed myself.  I rallied, and was gaining ground again when you peeled off to the pits.  Shame, I was really enjoying harassing you 

 

Yeah, you were definitely quicker than me on some parts of the track and I didn't have an awful lot of pace at that stage of the race. I was also messing with upcoming pit stuff which included adjusting tyre pressures for my second set until I remembered that we don't have to change tyres, unlike AOR! Still, it was a decent tussle

[Meers]

9 hours ago, milko said:

 

@Meers thanks for the gentlemanly race at the end there! We must have swapped place about four times through making mistakes before I finally seemed to end up with a much faster car at the very end and got a pass to stick, then pull away. Much appreciated buddy, it was a giggle as we tried to hang on to the wet lines on the drying track without messing up the racing line too badly. Your car did not seem to want to go around Cascades at all!

 

That was fun indeed, and frustrating at the same time mate. I damaged my nose hitting a tyre wall after I lost control (again) when I clipped a kerb. Downforce gone, hence I was limping in front of you at that time.

 

I love wet races. Absolutely adore them. But last night was a disappointing session for me. I'm surprised I managed 8th at the end which I consider damage control after that shit show of mine.

 

It started when @Speech and I came together just before the first chicane. I got out of the hairpin faster than him and we were side-to-side on the bit leading up to the chicane. Just when I decided to lift off because I could not manage the overtake, Speech pinched me somewhat and we collided (from my pov anyway). I'm so sorry that happened, mate. it damaged something on my car which caused understeer, so I decided to pit immediately for repairs and add all the fuel I would have added much later. Cue a fixed, heavy car but at least I didn't need to stop anymore (if all went well of course).

 

I managed to find myself again after that, and got a fairly consistent pace going again, but I continued to take trips into the grass every now and again. But somehow the standard rain setup had me bottoming out on every significant bump on this already bumpy track. Speaking of which...that bump just before the first chicane...was that always there? What a cunt in the rain!

 

Also, I got a phone call from mrs Meers in the middle of the race. She knows I was in the middle of a race so it had to be something serious (she felt really sick all of a sudden) so I had to answer the call whilst continuing to race. So I quit out immediately after the race to check on her (she's feeling better now).

 

Better luck next race.

 

Oh, and my laptop really doesn't like wet online races in the dark. 30fps at times. It got better when it dried up. I really need to speed up that new PC project of mine. 

 

@davejm, could you post the results please mate? 

[davejm]

19 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

@davejm, could you post the results please mate? 

 

Nah, I don't like the results from last night so they don't count

[Meers]

1 minute ago, davejm said:

 

Nah, I don't like the results from last night so they don't count

 

I fully agree!

[davejm]

I actually fed the results into the website last night, then forgot to post them here (I was a right dopey bastard yesterday):-

 

https://simsource.azurewebsites.net/results/gs7e07f22c76?tab-=qualifying

https://simsource.azurewebsites.net/results/gs7e07f22c76?tab-=race

[SANtoOos]

9 hours ago, Valver said:

It doesn't look too bad from the external cameras (well the shunt looks quite hard) but a bit like me nearly T-boning Meers last week - I know in car, when you're on the limit, it's a very different experience!

 

 

 

 

Yeah looked a lot less dramatic than I remembered.  From my pov I braked a little earlier than normal, I was on full brakes and the car wasn't turning, headed straight to Buffalos car. In those conditions it was a scary moment. It wasn't until about a car length-ish from them that the front tyres suddenly gripped up as speeds were low enough then, but I was still braking hard up to the 1st apex as you can see in the telemetry, thank you ABS. 

[Meers]

Thanks buddy. Here's the leaderboard after 4 races:

 

 

@SANtoOos is slowly being reeled in by @SharkyOB, and if he's not careful he will get bitten. @davejm seems to be washed ashore on an island of his own, but there's a ship on the horizon containing @SneakyNinja, @Count Buffalos, @Valver, myself and @milko. Will they manage to get to Dave in time? @extremepabs, @Speech, @mrben09 and @willmill are battling it out amongst themselves for 9th place whilst @Thor is eying them up from the comfort of his private yacht 'SS Mercedes'.

[davejm]

I enjoyed last night's race, but it was a harsh reality check for me.  I took practice far more seriously than usual (hence the good timings during the week) but I think I invested too much into the idea that if I practiced more than anyone else I would win.

 

In reality, although I'd practiced a lot during the week (which undoubtedly helped) there's no guarantee that on race day it translates to peak performance.  I still have bad days and good days with the sim.  One of the practice days I couldn't get within a second of my time the day before, and the day after I was back on form again.  And I felt off last night too.

 

My heart sank when I saw the rain, and doubly so when I didn't hit drive in time and got booted to the pits.  It felt like my preparation was for nothing.

 

But, within a minute of racing I fell in love with everything again.  And if I look back, I absolutely loved practicing during the week and really learning the nuances of the track.  So the preparation wasn't for nothing, because I enjoyed the process itself and enjoyed all the time I spent in the car.

 

Anyway, not sure what my point is.  I'm just waffling really.  Just up and down emotions with this game.

[SneakyNinja]

19 minutes ago, davejm said:

I enjoyed last night's race, but it was a harsh reality check for me.  I took practice far more seriously than usual (hence the good timings during the week) but I think I invested too much into the idea that if I practiced more than anyone else I would win.

 

In reality, although I'd practiced a lot during the week (which undoubtedly helped) there's no guarantee that on race day it translates to peak performance.  I still have bad days and good days with the sim.  One of the practice days I couldn't get within a second of my time the day before, and the day after I was back on form again.  And I felt off last night too.

 

My heart sank when I saw the rain, and doubly so when I didn't hit drive in time and got booted to the pits.  It felt like my preparation was for nothing.

 

But, within a minute of racing I fell in love with everything again.  And if I look back, I absolutely loved practicing during the week and really learning the nuances of the track.  So the preparation wasn't for nothing, because I enjoyed the process itself and enjoyed all the time I spent in the car.

 

Anyway, not sure what my point is.  I'm just waffling really.  Just up and down emotions with this game.

 

That's really interesting (to me at least), as I seem to be quite the opposite. I don't get a lot of practice in, and am quite rubbish when it comes to raw pace. I think this is because I'm not close enough to the limit, which is why I don't often have incidents on track and usually have an average lap delta time of ~0.5s over an hours race. You're much better at getting near the limit.

 

I wouldn't worry about the odd bad race though if I were you - you've improved massively recently and are getting far more out of your car than I can. Only 8 points between us mind, so watch your mirrors!  

[SneakyNinja]

10 hours ago, Count Buffalos said:

A really enjoyable race this evening at a surprisingly wet Oulton Park.

 

Sorry for punting you @extremepabs, I wasn't expecting you to slow to let me pass where you did, which was in the braking zone for the hairpin. I hope that your car wasn't damaged. 

 

I had two amazing battles with @SneakyNinja during the race. During the first stint we had an ace multi lap duel until I binned it on T1 through 'overambition'. I then had a quiet middle part of the race although had an interesting pitched battle with @Valver until I pitted. I somehow exited about a second behind Sneakyninja and we had a brilliant multi lap tussle again. I probably had the better pace at that point, especially with a drying track. After a few laps, I tried a tighter line through T1 and somehow got some good traction through T2 which put me slightly ahead just before the horribly bumpy Cascades braking zone. Sneakyninja feathered the throttle a little on his inside line which cemented my overtake. Very sporting, great stuff

 

That was fantastic racing @Count Buffalos. I was as surprised as you when I nipped past as you were exiting the pits. For our last tussle I was worrying too much about the tyres going off and end up compromising my speed by looking for wet lines to cool them. You were obviously faster though so I made it just difficult enough, but didn't over-defend when you pulled off your masterful overtake. Bravo on that sir.

 

[SneakyNinja]

10 hours ago, davejm said:

Next week

We have a mid-season break next week, then Snetterton Endurance the week after.  Obviously I usually decide the schedule, and a few of us have chosen races in the past for specific weeks; but for next week I'd like to nominate @SneakyNinja to choose the format   I liked your idea of a track day; but whether you fancy doing that next week (or choose another ad-hoc evening for that with coach @SharkyOB  ) or have a full on race as usual I'll let you decide if that's cool. 

 

So choose any track(s) you like, format (endurance, sprint, track day etc), class, time of day, weather combo.  Of course, if you don't fancy being the decision maker that's cool we can see who wants to take it on and then pick someone else.  I know you quite liked the GT4s so maybe that could be an option?

 

 

 

Oh the power, mwuhahahaha! <ahem>

 

That's very kind, thanks. I'm partial to a bit of GT4 action, yes - but I get that others aren't, so how about we try a wee multi-class event? Just to see how it works (or not). Depending on the numbers of course. Not much point with 1 GT4 in a field of '3s. (Mind you, the opposite would be a laff)

 

If that doesn't work for everyone, then personally I'd love some more coaching, if the aliens amongst us are up for that?

 

Or, how about a couple of reversed grid sprint races where we start in reverse championship order. That'd give those who normally start at the back the chance to battle for the lead at the start and get used to that, as well as giving the whizzy chaps chance to practice their 'miracle recovery' drives from the back. (I know I was papping it when I snagged pole once!)

 

 

[milko]

14 minutes ago, SneakyNinja said:

That's really interesting (to me at least), as I seem to be quite the opposite. I don't get a lot of practice in, and am quite rubbish when it comes to raw pace. I think this is because I'm not close enough to the limit, which is why I don't often have incidents on track and usually have an average lap delta time of ~0.5s over an hours race. You're much better at getting near the limit.

 

I'm trying to learn about this idea

I set out in many practice sessions to just settle in slowly and build up gradually to a pacey time. What actually happens is I spend 1-2 laps warming the tyres and then the red mist descends and I'm on the limit everywhere. Makes for a good hotlap but a lot of invalid ones in between. I do manage to tone this down a lot in races but still make too many mistakes really, the trouble is I don't find myself much less likely to bin it when being (trying to be) conservative with my driving.

 

I'm always game for GT4 by the way, but happy whatever. I thought I read (before my time with the game) that reverse grids were tried and found unpopular? 

[SneakyNinja]

2 minutes ago, milko said:

 

I'm trying to learn about this idea

I set out in many practice sessions to just settle in slowly and build up gradually to a pacey time. What actually happens is I spend 1-2 laps warming the tyres and then the red mist descends and I'm on the limit everywhere. Makes for a good hotlap but a lot of invalid ones in between. I do manage to tone this down a lot in races but still make too many mistakes really, the trouble is I don't find myself much less likely to bin it when being (trying to be) conservative with my driving.

 

I'm always game for GT4 by the way, but whatever. I though I read (before my time with the game) that reverse grids were tried and found unpopular?

 

So if you average us two out, we'd be winning everything  I know what you mean though. One thing I read that resonated with me is that you'll make up far more time by getting a good exit, than you'll lose by braking early to get it. Bloody hard to do in practice though.

 

I think the reversed grids weren't popular when there were championship points on the line, but I could be applying some bias to my memory. Like you, I'm happy either way..

 

[davejm]

I don't think reverse grids were unpopular across the board... but there were a few that struggled having faster cars in their mirrors which meant for a nervous time that wasn't enjoyable.  And I think there were a couple of times where faster guys misjudged the slower car which led to some incidents.  So we put it to a vote at that time.

 

But as @SneakyNinja says, I don't think it's a bad idea for an off-season race.

 

Sneaky, would you be in favour of the mixed class race as a preference then (from the suggestions provided?).  We've previously spoken about pulling in people from elsewhere (the Power Q Discord for example) so we could extend this outside of rllmuk and try to fill the server with a mix of the two classes.  Or would peeps rather keep things in-house for next week and do the 2x reverse grid sprint race idea or track day?

[davejm]

15 minutes ago, milko said:

I set out in many practice sessions to just settle in slowly and build up gradually to a pacey time. What actually happens is I spend 1-2 laps warming the tyres and then the red mist descends and I'm on the limit everywhere. Makes for a good hotlap but a lot of invalid ones in between. I do manage to tone this down a lot in races but still make too many mistakes really, the trouble is I don't find myself much less likely to bin it when being (trying to be) conservative with my driving.

 

This is basically me!   I did mix things up during Oulton Park practice by filling the car with fuel, sticking on the radio, then just lapping.  But even with a full tank I get into the mindset of pushing and pushing!

[SneakyNinja]

4 minutes ago, davejm said:

Sneaky, would you be in favour of the mixed class race as a preference then (from the suggestions provided?).  We've previously spoken about pulling in people from elsewhere (the Power Q Discord for example) so we could extend this outside of rllmuk and try to fill the server with a mix of the two classes.  Or would peeps rather keep things in-house for next week and do the 2x reverse grid sprint race idea or track day?

 

I think so, yes. I'm just curious as to how a mixed class race would pan out. Ideally with just 'us lot' but if there aren't enough people I'm happy for widening the field to... outsiders.  

 

That said, I'm equally happy with in-house reversed grids so we can practice being in different situations to our usual races. 

 

 

[davejm]

8 minutes ago, SneakyNinja said:

 

I think so, yes. I'm just curious as to how a mixed class race would pan out. Ideally with just 'us lot' but if there aren't enough people I'm happy for widening the field to... outsiders.  

 

That said, I'm equally happy with in-house reversed grids so we can practice being in different situations to our usual races. 

 

Cool, I don't think it would work unless we widen the field to outsiders.  We seem to have 12 regulars, and not sure that would be enough.

 

I'll put the feelers out.  If there isn't any interest for next week we could just switch to the in-house reverse grid sprints as an alternative.

 

In the meantime, could you choose a track for us?  I think the shorter laps would generally work better for multi-class.

 

EDIT:   I'm wondering if we should use the second off season week for the multi-class.  That'd give me more time to organise it

[Valver]

Can we combine the ideas of 'reverse grid' and mixed class, so that all the people in the front half of the championship table get put in the GT4s, while the folks in the lower part of the table get the faster GT3s?   Qualifying would still determine ultimate grid starting positions

 

How much time difference (typically) is there in a lap in a GT3 vs a GT4?  Is it possible for an epically driven GT4 to keep up/pass a GT3?

[mrben09]

12 minutes ago, davejm said:

I don't think reverse grids were unpopular across the board... but there were a few that struggled having faster cars in their mirrors which meant for a nervous time that wasn't enjoyable.  And I think there were a couple of times where faster guys misjudged the slower car which led to some incidents.  So we put it to a vote at that time.

 

But as @SneakyNinja says, I don't think it's a bad idea for an off-season race.

 

Sneaky, would you be in favour of the mixed class race as a preference then (from the suggestions provided?).  We've previously spoken about pulling in people from elsewhere (the Power Q Discord for example) so we could extend this outside of rllmuk and try to fill the server with a mix of the two classes.  Or would peeps rather keep things in-house for next week and do the 2x reverse grid sprint race idea or track day?

If you can all hear me down the front,  I was one of those against reverse grids because I was concerned I might ruin someones night. I think we may now all be better equipped to deal with them. But that's just me speaking and I'm not the union rep for us slow'uns.

 

A two class one off with a group raid from elsewhere sounds fun

 

 

[davejm]

1 minute ago, Valver said:

Can we combine the ideas of 'reverse grid' and mixed class, so that all the people in the front half of the championship table get put in the GT4s, while the folks in the lower part of the table get the faster GT3s?   Qualifying would still determine ultimate grid starting positions

 

How much time difference (typically) is there in a lap in a GT3 vs a GT4?  Is it possible for an epically driven GT4 to keep up/pass a GT3?

 

For a one-off fun race I'd probably rather go for the GT4.  It's about a 10 second per lap difference I think.  So it's not really possible for an alien driving a GT4 to keep up with or pass a competently driven GT3 to be honest, as the speed out of the corners is such a difference.

[Meers]

14 minutes ago, davejm said:

We've previously spoken about pulling in people from elsewhere (the Power Q Discord for example) so we could extend this outside of rllmuk and try to fill the server with a mix of the two classes.

 

This may kill my laptop hahahaha!  

[Valver]

I really like the idea of bigger grids  - so inviting PowerQ's community along sounds fun

[SneakyNinja]

8 minutes ago, davejm said:

In the meantime, could you choose a track for us?  I think the shorter laps would generally work better for multi-class.

 

Agreed, shorter is better here. So how about Snetterton or Zolder?

 

Or Zandvoort.

 

Damn, there are so many decent tracks in this game!

 

Either way, not Bathurst. Ever. 

 

[davejm]

How about this:-

 

Off season week 1 (next week)

2x reverse grid sprint races, one GT3 and one GT4 race.

 

Off season week 2 (8th April)

50 car grid multi-class event.  1.5 hour Endurance.

 

Having the multi-class for the second off-season week would give us more time to pull in folk from outside.  I can create entry-list forms with a maximum of 25 in each class;  so that we can restrict it to a 50/50 split of cars for GT3/GT4.

[davejm]

By the way, 50 might be optimistic.  But you get the idea

[milko]

How about we make the 'others' from PowerQ GT4 and then us GT3 so we can all either feel superior or extremely embarrassed? (this suggestion is not entirely serious)

 

Anyway, plan sounds like it's shaping up to be fun. 

 

 

[SneakyNinja]

Sounds good to me.

[Meers]

3 minutes ago, Valver said:

I really like the idea of bigger grids  - so inviting PowerQ's community along sounds fun

 

I need to give bigger grids a proper test. I don't think my hardware can handle 20 car races without a massive performance drop. 

 

Time to convince the mrs...

[davejm]

3 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

I need to give bigger grids a proper test. I don't think my hardware can handle 20 car races without a massive performance drop. 

 

Time to convince the mrs...

 

Just make sure you only have 20-or-so cars visible at any one time.  Multi-player large grid races don't tax the CPU as much, because the server handles the AI for those cars.  So you'll probably find that your PC copes better with large grid multiplayer races than if you did a single player race as long as you don't have lots of cars being rendered at once.

[davejm]

5 minutes ago, SneakyNinja said:

Sounds good to me.

 

Cool, so we have Snetterton already in the league calendar (week after next) so shall we go for Zolder for the multi-class?