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

[milko]

@kiroquai yessssssssss

[kiroquai]

It's a bit of a long-term investment as until about November I won't have access to my wheel, but I figured what I'd do is get the game and at least run some practice on a pad at the tracks you go to and then perhaps if there was room, sign up for next season when I should (in theory) be all set up in my new house

[milko]

There's room for about double (or more!) the size of the grid we manage, have no fear on that score.

[Meers]

1 hour ago, kiroquai said:

 

 

OMG MEGATON!!! 

 

AWESOMEEEEEEE!!! 

 

Kiro and I used to be team mates in the Codies F1 league. Great to see you join the ACC league!

[Erik]

welcome @kiroquai dont be afraid to join us even with controller. We'll set you up and bring you up to speed if you wish so.

 

Maybe Aston was a mistake for me. Its stable, but very understeery. 😄 I improved a little but thats still a full second slower than my record from a time when I think I was much slower.

[davejm]

@kiroquai check out this thread... specifically the section about joining the practice server.  If you let me know your Steam ID I can add you to the entry list

 

 

 

[davejm]

[davejm]

IMPORTANT!!!!

Don't forget that you need to register for the race tonight (and future events!) if you haven't already!

@Yannik @winky @extremepabs

 

https://beta.simracing.gp/events/1JI0fDBLd0HCZ7tf2M-Iw

 

 

[Meers]

42 minutes ago, davejm said:

 

Nice! Looks to be very close so far. Should be exciting tonight!

[SharkyOB]

14 hours ago, Erik said:

welcome @kiroquai dont be afraid to join us even with controller. We'll set you up and bring you up to speed if you wish so.

 

Maybe Aston was a mistake for me. Its stable, but very understeery. 😄 I improved a little but thats still a full second slower than my record from a time when I think I was much slower.

 

Good, means we might be able to race you a bit!!

 

Aston for Erik from now on, or maybe the Jag?

[Meers]

2 hours ago, SharkyOB said:

Aston for Erik from now on, or maybe the Jag?

 

 

🙃

[kiroquai]

Well, I had my first 'test' at Misano using the pad - this comprised mostly of spinning off and at one point, losing track of where I was and driving the wrong way down the circuit 😂. Was using the 'stock' 488 and running whatever setup was on the thing already, think I got down to a 1.42 with plenty of time to find . First time I've been around Misano, really like how many tightening radius corner braking zone type things it has!

 

 

Great fun, though. Will shell out for the DLC packs to get the other cars and circuits! I remember from my short experience of this on the PS4 with my wheel that it was immensely satisfying to drive, so looking forward to being able to hook that up. Good luck to everyone racing tonight, and hope all is well @Valverand that you and your family get through things as well as can be!

[davejm]

I might spectate the race this evening, so make sure you're on your best behaviour

[SANtoOos]

Sorry guys, got offered a really well paid job this evening so gotta drop out. Good luck all! I'll unregister now. 

[Erik]

We need you in the race @davejm 😉

[Erik]

Dave, can you give me some ballast?

[milko]

I think the racing gods looked upon you all being kind to me in race 1 and were angered! They left me alone at Bathurst because who needs help having disasters there? But this time! I hope that's used up all my bad luck for a while - that's how luck works, right?

 

I had some nice little battles with @EuroVapeSim2 @SweatyTravolta and @Count Buffalos after that; having decided that "anything better than retirement is something" once my Oculus Quest disconnected on me I can be happy enough with that. But oh, what might have been after that second place quali run and decent track pace. Second place to @Erik is basically first in my eyes anyway!  Never mind.

 

btw I'm pretty sure I can't make the week Zolder is in (Thursday 28th Oct) so if it's not gonna screw up anybody else I'd be up for adding a break there and pushing it back. Half-term events for me. But only if it works for everybody else, s'no big deal. 

 

 

[Count Buffalos]

Yeah, good battle Milko, sorry it ended in contact. My tyres were horrible towards the end of the race and I was struggling to slow the car down on corner entry, especially that double right hander leading on to the back straight.

[milko]

Ha, every time we got to the tight corners like those I felt like I had chance to get a run on you but it never quite worked out and you seemed to have the straight line pace on me, just about. It was cool, and at least as much my fault we tapped in the end, just glad it didn't take anybody out.

[Valver]

I didn't get the chance to practice this week - so I'm very pleased with my 3rd place. 

 

Looks like there was some good duelling in the lower half of the field... 

 

 

[Erik]

Great pace early in the race @SharkyOB I think we were within a tenth or two for the first 20-ish laps. You mentioned how your pace slowed towards the end - the same happened to me, I turned my best laps on laps 23 and 24(1:35.0) and then my pace slowed to high 35 and low 36. It may have been low tyre pressures as temperatures fell quite a bit, maybe tearing/graining too from overdriving. Early in the race I had pressures 27.8-28.0 PSI but only 27.3-27.6 in the end. Worst tyre was front left with 2.08 mm left and light graining, so I had been sliding and using front tyres a bit too much.

 

Theres something I want to write about lapping. You dont need to slow down and move aside as soon as you see the blue flag, at least not for me. 😄 I'll return to this later with a video example or two.

[Meers]

I really should learn to set up my pit strategy before the race instead of trying to do it whilst pitting. Whilst I feverishly tried to untick a couple of boxes in the pit menu I accidentally switched the pit limiter off when I unticked the bodywork repair box. I blame it on the 'funky switch' (which totally deserves that moniker) on my wheel, which is wobbly as hell. If you're not careful, you'll press up or down when you meant to go left or right. Why on earth they didn't go for a regular d-pad is anyone's guess. And as you can see below, the bodywork repair box is essentially next to the pit limiter if you accidentally hit down. And if you hit right/left after that, you'll switch the pit limiter off. And then you'll get a 30 second S&G penalty as a result.

 

 

So my battle with @Valver and @SneakyNinja was over after that. The first stint was AMAZING though. In the first stint I was scrapping for the podium with @Count Buffalos, SneakyNinja and Valver whilst @winky was not too far behind. Tense stuff and I absolutely loved being able to keep up with them. Unfortunately Nick spun in an unexpected way which almost caught me off guard. Luckily I managed to avoid him. I was swarming Alastair for a while and I think I could have had him if it wasn't for my pitstop debacle. I'll try to practice a bit more during the week now that I've got a bit more time.

 

The Macca really suits me I think, lovely car. It rewards smooth driving, which just so happens to be my driving style. 🥰

 

Going back to 1080p (with a bit of upscaling - 125%) was a good decision too. The framerate was 70-75fps which is well above the 60Hz my screen puts out, so it's smooth as butter. Graphically it's a bit fuzzier overall (on a 4K tv) but I can use mirrors now! Oh and Epic shadows, draw distance, textures, AA and foliage as well!

[davejm]

Hope you guys had fun racing.  I watched the first half an hour or so; up to the first pitstop which @Meers must have screwed up as he got hit with a SG30 right after

 

Shame about the start @milko.  I watched some of your battling further down the field after your incident.

 

@Erik how did the 20kg ballast feel?

 

Here are the standings after 3 rounds:-

 

[davejm]

9 hours ago, milko said:

btw I'm pretty sure I can't make the week Zolder is in (Thursday 28th Oct) so if it's not gonna screw up anybody else I'd be up for adding a break there and pushing it back. Half-term events for me. But only if it works for everybody else, s'no big deal. 

 

I've adjusted the calendar to bring forward that round by a week, so it's swapped with the second mid-season break.  Gives us an extra practice week for the Blue Riband finale too!

 

[Meers]

23 minutes ago, Erik said:

Theres something I want to write about lapping. You dont need to slow down and move aside as soon as you see the blue flag, at least not for me. 😄 I'll return to this later with a video example or two.

 

As you've seen, I keep on racing as normal until someone's right on my bumper before going wide when turning into a corner to let the faster car pass. I think that's the best way really. There's no need to slow down drastically and dive into the grass/gravel at all imo.

[Meers]

19 minutes ago, davejm said:

@Meers must have screwed up as he got hit with a SG30 right after

 

I did fuck up my pitstop massively, see the post above yours. 🤦‍♂️

How are you doing, Dave? Are you able to join us again soon?

 

Regarding the mid-season break...is there something I can set up for next week's event? A suggestion was done to have a Nordschleife track day style event, which I though was a good idea.

[davejm]

2 hours ago, Meers said:

 

I did fuck up my pitstop massively, see the post above yours. 🤦‍♂️

How are you doing, Dave? Are you able to join us again soon?

 

Yeah, I posted at a similar time to you so I didn't see your your post until after.

 

I'm doing OK thanks mate.  I'm getting there.  I might try and get back for the Oulton Park race in a couple of weeks; or dip into any mid season race that might get scheduled next.  But I'm not too sure at the moment.  I tried to get some practice in around Misano over the last couple of days; but I found it frustrating and didn't enjoy it (plus some knee pain returned almost immediately).  So for now I'm not totally sure.  I'm trying to do some different things in the evenings (running, walking, catching up with friends etc) to keep busy and boost my mental health; but unfortunately sitting in the rig is reminding me of the routine of the last year or so which I'm having to break away from in lots of ways.  I'm trying to do more strength exercises too; to help with the knees.

 

My CSL DD is due to ship over the next week or so.  Maybe playing around with that will give me a kick to get back into it!  Who knows.  But I'm not far away (and obviously still posting here and enjoying following things) so fingers crossed I'll be back soon.

[Meers]

7 minutes ago, davejm said:

I'm doing OK thanks mate.  I'm getting there.  I might try and get back for the Oulton Park race in a couple of week; or dip into any mid season race that might get scheduled next.  But I'm not too sure at the moment. 

 

No rush mate, just join back in when you're 100% ready for it again. 🤗

[milko]

1 hour ago, Meers said:

 

The Macca really suits me I think, lovely car. It rewards smooth driving, which just so happens to be my driving style.

I seem to be getting on well with it too, in terms of pace anyway. Not sure I’d describe my style as smooth but it feels a lot safer than my previous choice so I’m able to push the limits more reliably. Now to try and arrest my slide down the table, I liked Oulton Park a lot in the Honda so I’m slightly optimistic. 

[davejm]

2 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

No rush mate, just join back in when you're 100% ready for it again. 🤗

 

Might check out that Assetto Corsa 'Island' mod soon, and try some Raceroom too.  Basically dip into some other stuff outside of the weekly practice & race cycle.  So dipping into a casual Assetto Corsa race next week might be fun...

 

... about that... we tried to do a Nordschleife track day style event previously and the server crapped out (Erik had to save us by setting up a local server).  I'm not sure how well simracing.gp handles practice only events; but we could always give it another go.  Either that or set it up with a race session (4 laps or something?).