And another thing... B-Spec Seasonal.

So you're all into the seasonal events yes? It's what gets the most money and the best off-line racing (although you do in fact need to be on-line to see the races?!).

And, recently a couple of B-Spec races have come up that are well worth doing, why?

• The Le-Mans race nets a cool $3m+
• Winning both gets a gift car ticket (can't remember what but hey!).
• Experience points for your racer will go up a heap.
• Did I mention $3m+

How?

With this:

Don't have this? No worries, I'll share mine out. What's more it's geared to win the race. Already pre-set to 700pp with tyres, wing and gearing set to optimum (for my B-spec dude anyhow!).

Tactics

These are a bit fuzzy, as I was dozing whilst my man was racing...

1. Get a couple of drivers if you've not already got them, select your crappiest first so they go first in the racing.
2. Race'll start, push hard with your driver, he should be up in the 'red zone' and passing folks up to 7th place or similar with ease.
3. End of first lap pit in and change to Wet intermediate tyres - it'll have started to rain.
4. You'll be last, but that's OK. Race on, push hard.
5. You'll get through 4-5 laps easily enough, you'll need to keep deferring a pitstop, at the start because the driver will want dry/wet tyres and finally because they're shot.
6. Somewhere past 50% of the race pit in, and put on intermediate tyres again. No fuel though, you'll not need it - or at least don't adjust what's set.
7. Push hard up until lap 9. You should be back in the pack somewhat.
8. The other cars should pit in around the back end of lap 9 - idiots!
9. Don't pit in, your tyres are pretty much ruined by now, but your b-spec driver will cope with this.
10. You'll pass all the other cars in the pit. So now you're in first place, but with shot tyres.
11. I then let my driver's aggression drop to mid strength and selected maintain pace at this point.
12. Lap 10 is all about hoping you'll make it round the track without crashing and getting across the line...

Good luck folks!

League Race #6 - More Details

A few more details folks...

Normal(ish) rules apply:

Damage - off

Penalties - low

Boost - low (we often have high, but this track will be low with such balanced cars).

Tuning - unlocked so we can adjust gearing - that's about it.

Tyres - fixed at sports soft

Race info:

5 Laps.

Sunny.

x2 Races

Official Race Info:

Event Date: 02-Feb-2011

Time: 9:00 PM

Race Starts: 9:15 PM

Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew

Track: Eifel Kart - 7 Sections, Complexity 8.

Laps: 5

Car: Polophony Karts

Tyres: Sports Soft

Other info:

So, it seems there are no karts in the list of fixed cars, but I think we should all have a kart unless we've sold it... If anyone's lacking on the night I'll buy them one and gift it.

Also, there's a fwe karts in the mix now, on the night I'll have a chat with which is the standard kart to use - I have a few...

Geek score: 9.5 - writing this on a kubuntu 'media' laptop that had a failed screen but HDMI output.. so plugged into the TV! Bonus is that I have a funky wireless keyboard too.

League race #6 Announced

This week is league night folks.

The championship is still open, there's still a maximum of 42 points on offer, and every chance for anyone to win*

So, this week we're taking our racing to somewhere new...

That's a clue folks...

Anyway, tonight I'll be testing and setting track and rules. Stand by for more info...

But you might want to do some test driving - check arcade mode for a standard version of your kart - it'll be as it's like on the night.

*Adam, not so much chap. Got to be in it to win it...

Deep Forest : 1:01:302

So a while back we decided to see how fast we could get around Deep Forest raceway with any car, any setting.

The only rule was no open wheel or fantasy cars (F1 and X10/X11 essentially).

This came about from a distant memory of GT4 and scratching a Zonda LM around the track in under a minute. Surely it's possible in GT5 right?

Well, it probably is, but we ended up using a Toyota Minolta with a turbo, that gives us 739pp, pretty handy.

It's pretty much the fastest car you can get without going to F1 etc. And we tried a few cars...

Lap times fell, starting around 1:05 it became clear that getting under a minute would be stupendous, why so hard? Well, I remembered that in GT4 you could have Qualifying Tyres and Nitro (giving around another 50% BHP), so not happening. Still, what's possible?

Many, many nights of this track, a lot of tuning, a $500k engine and chassis overhaul later and the result was 1:01:302. And here it is:

This the same lap from several different angles.

Enjoy.

Pointless race night 26 Jan

Time for another pointless race...

A few of you have commented that we haven't tried off-road, so we'll start with that on this night.

The cars, there's three on offer:

• Suzuki : SX4 WRC '08 510pp
• Citroën : C4 WRC '08 508pp
• Ford : Focus RS WRC07 '08 508pp

The track:

Something from the Eiger Nordwood set...

Source here

If it all goes horribly wrong, or we want to do something else, we'll do trial mountain with 587pp cars. In fact we'll probably end up doing that any how eh..

League Night Race 5 Results

"Good race lads"

The quote says it.

First race whilst we waited for Evan to finish swearing at his PS3 & ISP was very scrappy, I thought it was going to be a tough night.

But didn't it come good.

Both races had me and Evan away at the front. Not sure why but it is a track that a little too much pushing results in a mess for several corners. Unforgiving you might say.

Memorable for me was laps 3 & 4 on the second race - Evan came up behind me on lap 3, and passed down the straight using the cursed slipstream, I was helpless. But, that was his tactical mistake! Evan mate, you should have hung back and hassled me for lap 4, I probably would have made a mistake and then of course, as I did, it was an easy slipstream to pass on the start/finish. Mind you, if you watch the replay, which is here you'll see that I pass you on the line, phew!

Official results:

Race1

1. Andrew

2. Evan

3. George

4. Paul

5. Rod

Race2

1. Andrew

2. Evan

3. George

4. Rod

5. Paul

Special mention to Paul, who may have not featured in the race, but decimated us in the after race with his Lambo. Given it was a 587pp race I think we may have some work on our hands in future races!

I've not taken pics of the race, we've already got pics of those two cars... Instead a few more of the exotic stuff that's starting to float about in the after races...

I love this car!

Speedy cars!

Paul makes us look slow...

GT5 2.03

Bit of GT5 news...

http://tunerspit.com/forum/content.php?427-SIX-NEW-CARS-ONE-NEW-TRACK-REPORTEDLY-IN-NEXT-GT5-DLC!-2.03-UPDATE-DETAILS!

Cool stuff in the DLC:

• Aston Martin V12 Vantage 2010
• Jag XJR-9 LM Racer 1988
• Lamborghini - Aventador LP700-4 2011
• The old test circuit - 30km oval basically (way to go with interesting tracks guys).

Though... this may mean they're working on the older tracks for GT5 - that's very good news.

Not much in the 2.03 release.

• Some fixes around electric cars.
• Err, some other stuff...

That's about it. Check the source if you want more info (will get through websense, at lunchtime of course).

FCT GT5 League Race 5

A return to the format that we know and love...

"Arrive and Drive" for this race folks.

The track:

Fuji Speedway

"A nice mix of bends with a long straight to make use of drafting."

The cars:

These bad boys - we know them well..

The JGTC Supra and Skyline.

Normal rules apply:

• Damage - off
• Penalties - low
• Boost - low (we often have high, but this track will be low with such balanced cars).
• Tuning - locked (unless I get a critical mass to say unlock).
• Tyres - Open/Racing Soft

Race info:

• 4 Laps.
• Sunny.
• x2 Races

Official Race Info:

• Event Date: 19-Jan-2011
• Time: 9:00 PM
• Race Starts: 9:15 PM
• Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew
• Track: Fuji Speedway
• Laps: 4
• Car: Skyline/Supra Race
• Tyres: Race Soft

Other info:

Please note that I'm changing the League Charter.

Points, section 4 reads:

"Assuming an eight race championship, each driver drops two race results (the lowest naturally). Shorter championship seasons will drop only one race result."

I'm proposing that we remove this, if only so we don't have a championship based on maths. If we were being ultra competitive then I'd say we'd keep it in, as it would most likely shake the final results up.

But for the sanity of the ongoing points and a general understanding of who's winning (me) I'd like to propose that we remove it*.

Cheers!

* Actually, only one vote for me to win the championship - gits!

Thursday's Pointless Race

Hi Folks.

"After the Le Mans spectacular - how can we better our racing?" I hear you ask.

Well, it's impossible, so we're not trying.

;o)

Here's a clue:

It's thrash and smash time...

General info:

• Short circuit - really short...
• Garage cars - I.e. I'll pick from the game set.
• Shite cars - they'll not be fast.
• Boost - On/High.
• Damage - On/High.
• Penalties - Off.
• Tyres - Comfort/Med at most. Think butter in a hot frying pan.

Rule:

• First one across the line is the winner.
• That's it. No more rules...

We'll see how we go with this format for a couple of races then perhaps take our 587pp cars to a circuit we all have for some 'proper' racing.

Cheers.

FCT GT5 League Race 4 – Circuit De La Sarthe - Results

So how cool was that race!!

Not only did we have a longer, single race, we also had night driving too. And I think both aspects paid off well.

Adam I think had an outclassed car completely – the 4wd pumped the pp points up, so less power and the 4wd just didn’t cut it on the long open circuit. In any case, we lost Adam early on, but he still gets a couple of points for showing up!

The rest of us all fared a little better.

From my perspective:

Paul, you had a ballistic missile – alas ballistic trajectory was your Zonda’s path. Mind you, thanks for the slipstream tow a few times, tucking in behind you was a bonus!

Baloo, the quiet racer eh. That RX7 could get up some serious speed down the straights and still muster a corner when needed.

Roderick, reckon you were in the mix, but as you commented, your car maybe lacking the grunt.

Evan & George – I think you have a couple favourite cars there. Probably a very good idea to race the same cars regularly as you know them well. And that paid off in the results I think. Personally seeing your Ferrari in my mirrors meant I knew I was going to be overtaken on a straight Evan. And George, I couldn’t let you past me, as you were so much quicker round the bends...

As for my Merc – was brand spanking for the race, and it fared OK. Certainly fast enough down the straights. Though maybe next time I’ll add some wing, as it was just too unstable on bends, often causing me a corner cut penalty.

So, I take it that no one did a pit-stop. Certainly I forgot until late in the race. Shame in some ways, but the racing was excellent without that, so as long as we all did the same thing I’m happy.

Official Race Results:

• George
• Evan
• Baloo
• Andrew
• Roderick
• Paul
• Adam (DNF)

And of course it’s a double point race, so that really shakes up the leader board (updated on the right).

I’ve also uploaded the full race to YouTube – it’s worth watching, as there’s some nice driving in there.

Link here for the video of the race

As for the after race party?

Kind of wanted to go to Spa, which excluded a few racers – guys you really need to get that extra track, it’s a legendary track in it’s own right, and fantastic in the game. Once we all have it we can do a 24 Minutes Spa race as it’s another enduro track.

Anyway, four of us made it to the track, and a couple of good races were had before it all went dark. If I get time I’ll upload the four car race, as it ended close in the finish.

Next week is non-league night, thinking we regroup our Le Mans 587pp cars and do another race somewhere else. In fact, any suggestions for racing (cars, tracks, quirks) I’m happy to put it out to the group!

Cheers all.

Race #4 24 Minutes Le-Mans

Remember folks this Thursday is Le Mans day.

What's more it's night racing day.

In preparation I'd suggest:

• Get a good solid 587pp car - F430 is popular.
• Read up on tuning - we'll have boost, but better is better right...
• Practice a night race or two. Set time to x60 and do three laps.
• Remember to brake!
• Get your living room dark - no back light really helps the night vision when racing.

Me, I'll be reading up on my hero, Jacky Ickx winner of many golden era Le Mans races in cars such as the Ferrari 512s, GT40 (in Gulf colours no less) and the legendary 956. Which can be seen here: \\Lxbxsg4q1\956 for those on the intranet.

Oh he also raced and won the Paris-Dakar and F1.

Hero!

Remember to read down the blog for tuning tips and race details...