SimRacing.org.uk

Practice 1:	15:43	(10 mins)
Qual 2:	15:53	(25 mins)
Warmup:	16:18	(2 mins)
Race:	16:20	(130 minutes)

Cars allowed: any GT1 from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.7.5.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519)
Weather: Changeable, based on real-world conditions at the start of the event.
Track: Nürburgring (GP) v1.0.0.1 - download from here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54521#post_nurburgring).
Race Start Time: 13:00
Pit Stops: You must make a minimum of two pit stops. You cannot take your mandatory stops at the end of the pace lap, or with less than 1 lap to go.

Server: UKGTR Super Enduro
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKGTR Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.0) - especially the speed limiter starting procedure and the rules about in-game chat messages.
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=179;theme=3)
(3) You will not be able to join the server without the skin and ballast pack and track pack (see links above).
(4) Drivers may only change car once in the season without penalty.
(5) Drivers are reminded that they must select ISDN as their bandwidth, otherwise the stability of everyone's connection will be reduced.
(6) Please use the Driver Details (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=profile;sa=driver_info) page to ensure that the league management software has your correct GTR2 'Driving Name' (not necessarily the same as your lobby name).
(7) This circuit is heavy on the FPS around the start finish straight and pit buildings. If you are struggling with your framerate please turn down the circuit detail levels in your graphics settings.

I have just attempted to join the praccy server.....and got booted as posible cheat 8 times in a row...using a selection of different cars/skins.  ???

Is anyone else having any problems ?  before I start disecting my GTR2 install?

Are you using v1.0.0.1 of Nurburgring, not v1.0.0.0? Check your Add/Remove programs for the version number.

Yep...file version 1.0.0.1....re-installed it yesterday after having a couple of probs during the test race to try and elliminate any probs at my end.

Doesn't seem to have worked  :'(

re-downloading it and going to re-install again....hopefully.


No luck....still booted every time.

Ok.... :-\....I have just tried again after making absolutely NO changes anywhere to anything...and got on first time  ???......hope it holds up ok for Saturday...I like this track.

Did you change cars? What car are you trying to join in?

I had tried various ones....both team skins and standard, Lambo, Saleen and even a Viper.

Just been on though with the pseudo skinned saleen...absolutely no problem...everything good and lowest FPS = 78

beats me  :)

Having done a little set-up development work here, I have a couple of newbish queries:

1)  For reference, is a 1:58.xx on full tanks in the Lambo a reasonable pace, or should I request the Safety Car?
2)  What is that horrible 'shelf' in the tarmac at the end of the Start-Finish straight?  A flaw in the track?  I've had to jack up the Lambo's ride height by 20mm front & back to avoid bottoming out there under braking.  Is it just me, or is this a 'local feature'?

Thanks in advance.  If I get some time off for good behaviour, between ferrying teenagers around in Dad's Taxi, I may be able to join tomorrow.

Not done too much with setup round here yet, I'm doing 1:55's with half tank....so you can expect a good few to be a fair bit quicker than that.

As for the shelf...horrible aint it!  :)

1) the Elise did a 2:06 here, so I think GT1's will be atleast 15s faster than that. Just a wild guess tho.
2) Not sure what you mean, but if that's the only spot where you bottom out without too much speed/grip loss, I wouldn't increase rideheight, as it will affect handling through the whole lap.

I think I was doing 1:53s in basic testing with the Lambo.

That dip is a feature of the track. When the Nurb F1 GP comes round have a look at the first corner as there's a nasty little dip just before you hit that corner. Of course with all the nonsense smoothing out of circuits they've probably removed it by now and removed one more challenge.

Thanks for the feedback, gents.  Right now, I can't imagine where I'd find 5-7 seconds per lap, so in a 130 minute race that means I'd be lapped at least 4 times, even if I didn't have the usual off-road-excursion or two.   :-[  Guess I should have picked up GTR2 a couple of years ago, like everyone else.  I'll just carry on with the chores tomorrow, and practice offline.  Have fun, chaps!

It really doesn't matter how many times you're lapped, as long as you have fun :).

Phew thats lucky then!!!!!

I think i might join you gents tommorow as i love this circuit though am a bit apprehensive over the length but i'll give it a go. I'm surprised this track hasnt really been used before till now. After some laps in various cars i've narrowed down to the Lister and on half tanks mananged to get down to 1.55. Didnt someone say the Corvette was the fastest? God! its a bit of a handfull, though am loving the sounds i d/l for it. Can someone please run the Corvette? I want to listen to it as it goes past!

Your wish is my command :D

I've been thinking of giving it a shot as I have a rare saturday off work ;D

You will be racing me i guess as i am terrible round this track, to be honest i was in the 58s aswell so may give it a miss will have to see how the day plans out

These races aren't just for the super quick aliens chaps  ;D.....some of us have to struggle around mid field or back of grid etc. Doesn't matter how much faster the front runners are, just so long as you have some folk on similar pace to yourself, you will get a race, especially with the strategies and tactics involved in the longer super E event.

Go on, join in.....you know you want to... :laugh:....The more people that turn up, the better the racing will be for everyone.

I'll be falling off the track enough times so dont worry. Don't expect to be alone at the back!

Just had a quick play with setups got down to a 55:497 but with light load and very unstable so i might just be able to make it today
i probably would have anyway i just cannot resist it you know  :P

Well, hadn't had any time to practice before today. I just did an offline TT stint, and it felt pretty good. Tire temps weren't too bad, got a few 54's in race trim. But then I came online, the reduced grip makes a very big difference. As soon as I make a mistake, get sloppy or try to push, the rear tires go bright red. I still got a 54 after a bit, but I'm expecting 55's in the race, with serious tire problems towards the end of the stints.

I love this track in GTL, especially the short version in the Alfa, because it's about a small controlled drift almost throughout the entire track. Even Müllenbach version can be fun for a short race in TC65.

But that sort of driving doesn't work in GTR. Not only does it cook the tires and make it easy to spin, it's slow to boot >:(

Also, that chicane is horrible, much too slow and breaks the flow. Go wide and the crash stick, will demolish your car. Not quite as bad as the crash barrels  :P in Imola in GTL, but still dangerous.

In my experience the endurance races are more about consistency than they are about speed. Or Lister and Corvette would never be used. Well, maybe by aliens when they're confident enough.  ;) Don't fell off the track and you'll do well.   8)

TT

Hopefully turn up for this one. Unfortunately this feels like a totally different track to GTL version so I've got no head start (wonder which is more accurate?). Gotta say this version is trickier and more interesting.


Headed for the MC12 straight away  ::) Lambo might be full back plan.

I'm into 55's in the Vette and the car feels very good even with only a mildly tweaked default setup.

Don't be scared of racing guys, if it was only the super-quick that entered, we'll have about 6 cars :(  There will always be someone to race.

BTW, I'm not under any illusions that I will be competitive on pace myself anyway.

Times times times times ;D. I haven't done any lap yet at this "another-track-with-no-long-straights-which-will-be-good-for-the-Viper" :P ;) :lol: .

Iv got a problem with refueling at the pitstops. I hope one of you clever chaps can help me out? :)

The fuel strategy that I have set for the second stop is ignored and I always get the fuel I set for the first stop ??? This happens in open practise and the race, it happened at Valencia as well. I am not sure if the other SE races were affected as I messed up the fuel strategy for those races anyway. I am really hoping to have 2 good pit stops today so any advice would be most appreseated.

Thanks

H@L9000

I joined in with zero practice and no set up whatsoever.

There was only about 12mins left and I was hoping I could maybe get something sorted quickly.

It was already wet when I joined and was zero grip, my car felt awful and uncontrollable.

The warm up was wet and I thought enough was enough. I simply was not prepaired enough to race.

Hope you lot have fun.

No fun at all that one  :(

The wet conditions were a bit of a suprise...been dry in Nuerburg today. :)

Done loads of praccy for this...got really well prepared and turning in decent times (1:52's)
Unfortunately absolutely no prep for wet conditions though.  ::)

Started fairly well...first 6/7 laps were pretty reasonable but my rear tyres were starting to melt. As it had stopped raining and looking a little dryer when following cars, I decided to to a quick stop for slicks.

Track was getting better but the car felt really awful  ???...couldn't work it out...snap oversteer/no front grip whatso....couldn't work out best way to try and drive it.
Hung on till I reached my first pit window and went for fuel....tyres would have lasted till second scheduled stop....Couldn't believe it though when I realised I had put soft slicks on the rear and mediums on the front in my hasty first stop. WHAT A PLONKER  :death: :helpsmilie:
Swapped em round to what they should be...and funnily enough, the car felt better.
unfortunately though, I didn't, so after touching the grass and doing a few nice waltzes I decided enough was enough.

One day I will have a race where everything goes as planned. (If age allows)

Grats winners and podiums.....and grats to team pseudo for an excellent turnout :thumbup1: :rockon:

Yet another disappointment in the Super Endurance series for me. Rain stopped soon after start, but I decided to run my first stint to completion on wets. Had a very clean run despite the weather, and figured I was doing pretty good, well ahead of the tail end. Was expecting a decent finish with a fast final stint on soft tyres thanks to conserving fuel in the rain.

That was not to be however. I ran the pit entrance a bit wide and trashed my car into the pointy end of the guardrail. I actually looked at that very spot in the practice and thought it might be dangerous, but of course didn't pay attention in the heat of the race. Limped into the pits to find my splitter gone and suspension ruined. Thought I could live without the suspension and only swapped the splitter. That turned out to be the wrong choice as soon as I got moving, and I had to pit in again on the next lap and spend 2 mins in the workshop.

I was now in my usual place, dead last, with a minute or so to the next car. Even worse, I would still have to splash and dash before the end. Couldn't really keep up my concentration at this point and decided to retire after running into the gravel the umpteenth time.

Stuck in the sand trap in Valencia, pit wall in Nürburgring, I wonder what Estoril has to offer?

Blimey!

That was hard work.  Qualified well down since it was wet when I joined, but no matter, I'll just take things steady and see what happens.

Started on hard wets and was getting on OK with them, if lacking a little pace, then it stopped raining and the tyre temps started coming up.  Pitted and put medium slicks on.  WRONG ;D  slithered about for the next 30mins wondering when the hell the track was gonna dry up.  I should have stayed on the hard wets a LOT longer.

Took my 2nd stop for a new set of slicks and fuelled to the finish, now the track was drying properly and I could lap more confidently.  Unfortunately there was nobody close enough to race any more :(

So 7th it was :)

What a brilliant test of endurance that was. ZERO practice again, but wasn't too bothered about that. I have a good base setup for the Lambo and I know Nurb from GTL. With the weather being very different, it really made no odds as it was learn as you go along anyway.

Qually was evil to say the least. I was fortunate to come out on the second lap and get half way up the grid, whilst the front runners were the ones who got out on lap 1. After that it was too wet and no chance of improving the time (or in fact even stay on the circuit).

Race was full wet so started on soft wet fronts and hard wet rears. I was soon picking up places as I worked out how to drive in the wet properly (half brake and half throttle). Not sure quite when but I made it up to 2nd from 9th and as everyone else was diving in for different tyres, Jeff and I were staying out shaking our heads, even with severly overheating wets not wanting to be on the track with slicks just yet. Jeff finally gave in when his wets ran over the 30 wear marker (tyres worn) and I managed to stay out right to the end of my fuel tank.

This gave me a load more strategy to play with as the wet conditions saved me a lot of fuel. It was also the absolutely perfect time to go onto slicks (soft front, medium rear, thanks to the helpful advice from my team mates) as the transition time on my first lap after pitting was faster than my previous best in the wet.

After that I just got faster and faster as the track dried (INCREDIBLY SLOWLY). I again ran the car dry taking me to 22 minutes remaining for my final dash to the flag. Filled it to 48 litres and put the same tyres on. Comfortably in second, but Jeff was too far gone. I managed to take 10 seconds out of him after the pit stops, but he was so far ahead it was meaningless. So I was just gunning for fastest lap at the point and they kept coming, right till the last lap when I set my fastest lap of all.

My brain got a really good workout in that race with working out what to do about tyres and how far my fuel would go and whether to switch strategies and so forth. Definately what super endurance is about. Had some overtaking early on in the wet which was fun too, so all in all a proper endurance race that one.

Well done to Jeff, fantastic to win by such a margin in the Viper in those tricky conditions. Also congrats to TT in third.

THAT was some of the best endurance racing there's to be had in GTR2. P2 in dry, Q2 started damp, then turned to wet and then flooded!   :wacko:  'cause I cocked it on my first try I had to Q in the wet and was only 13th of 18 drivers.   :(  Warmup was wet and with a minimum of rain, so I decided to run with hRS wets and then decide later what to do. Seems like it was the right decision as I was 7th after the first few laps. Driving was hard, the track is unforgiving even in dry, so I went slowly and it payed off. After the track started to dry the fronts were increasingly going hot and I had to cool them down off the racing line. After the car started sliding out of corners I decided to pit, changed my tyres to slicks and took a full tank. Lister has low fuel usage so I had some more tactical options. I saw Shark and Ruskus and Gazza were not coming in (sorry, didn't see others). I had quite a good 2nd stint with a few offs which didn't really take that much time. Towards the empty tank ( :D ) one Psuedodo team Lambo started to catch up (Gazza?) and we had some close laps, even the contact and I went into the sand. Fair move by the pursuer, he waited for me to rejoin and let me my place back.   :thumbup1:  After the second pit - for once I calculated the amount of fuel to put in correctly - I came back a few seconds before Gazza and managed to keep the gap until my tyres warmed up. I think I was in 5th place then. Then Paul968 pitted, and close towards the end of the race Reign Man in front spinned - bad luck, buddy. I was 3rd, kept the gap to Gazza and let it close towards the very end.

Pleased with the result as Lister isn't the best in all this braking and accelerating. And I must say GREAT JOB Dave for creating this clever-weather file.  :notworthy: I never saw this in either R2P or TPG league. THIS is the proper endurance racing.  8)

Grats to JR and Shark, great tactics and nerves.  8)


 :lol:

TT

Great super endurance.

Before the start of the race I tweaked a few things to make it better in the wet and started with soft/hard wets.
First stage I could slowly get away ferom Paul, untill he pitted and the gap was quite big. I then went off and clipped the wall ::). Could keep going without too much damage :).

Soon my fronts were starting to overheat, but also my hards went that way soon after. Eventhough they were too hot (130/110), they were still the right option, as wets didn't even give enough grip.
It was great to see this race the difference between Pirelli and Michelin. The Pirellis wets are easier to drive, so as long as it stayed wet, I had the advantage.
Had to come in after 40 minutes or so, because wear was 30+ and I didn't wanted to risk a puncture. Came in and gambled for meds allround, as I was afraid softs fronts would overheat and wear to quickly.
The grip was horrible the first few laps, no grip at the front nor rear. But slowly the tyres started to heat up and I was improving my wet laptimes.
Fronts never got up to temperature, so the understeer was awefull. That's why I stretched my 2nd stint till 30 minutes to go, so switch to soft fronts.
They were much quicker but also wearing fast. At that time the Michelins had the upperhand, and Simon was gaining on me.

Luckily for me, the gap was big enough, so I didn't have to push too hard at that point, as the car never felt super good in these conditions :).

Grats too all who finished, very hard conditions for such a long race, so very well done on finishing.


Weird, as those are actually the strong points of the Lister. It's very light (good braking) and has very good acceleration (more torque than a F550) :).

That was a pretty amazing race!

Didnt manage a time in the dry so started 10th. Started on hard wets all round and struggled a little at first getting passed by a few but then i got a little more confident and with a few people falling off started to climb up the board. Stayed out my whole 1st stint on the hard wets which seemed to be the way to go and when it was time to pit it was perfect time to put on the dry tyres.

Came out in about 5th i think and started to catch TT, we had some amazing laps together, i was getting along side but couldnt get past. One point i knocked him off track (very sorry TT) but i slowed and let him back passed. Managed to catch him again and got past cleanly and pulled away.

Was thinking maybe 3rd was on the cards but AGAIN i over fuelled at the last stop. There was 25mins to go and i stupidly put 20 laps of fuel in when only about 13 would of done. This meant TT got back passed me and then i had Paul all over me and again we had some very close racing. Reign Man then spun (unlucky mate) and i was up to 4th. Paul then got a good run on me up to the final chicane but lucky for me he outbraked himself and half spun i think which took the pressure of a little.  

Was having to try and look after the engine as the temps were getting very high so couldnt really make a push at catching TT plus being to heavy.

All in all very happy with 4th.

Grats to Ruskus and podium, and everyone who finnished.

Quite enjoyed that even if it was bonkers. :laugh:

Got another purple screen of doom at the start of qually and had to reboot and rejoin. By the time I returned the track was wet and I had no chance of even a half-decent lap so I stuck something approximating a wet race setup on and went out to see how it felt.

Not good was the answer. Made some tweaks, crossed my fingers and hope for better weather in the race.

Started well and picked up lots of places as others went off. Caught Gazza as he was finding his feet and got alongside into the chicane only to concentrate too hard on leaving him some room, running over the curb and spinning putting me back a couple places. ::)

When the rain stopped I decided to gamble and take on slicks. It was much too early for the Lambo but I was a long way back from the other two Shark drivers so without any team points on offer it made more sense to gamble and gather useful information for them.

It was quickly apparent that wets were still the 'right' tyres but slicks were manageable as long as I didn't stray off line. My laps times were well down but I needed to save a lot of fuel to avoid having to do two more stops so it didn't matter so much. It was costing me at least 4 seconds a lap compared to the leaders but I couldn't match their pace in any case.

Despite what Shark and JR were telling me over TeamSpeak about the Lambo's fuel capability, I managed to stretch the second stint out  to over an hour, and pitted in line with my original dry strategy. On leaving the pits I was immediately able to go massively faster and for a short while held the fastest lap of the race, until JR and then Shark pitted and knocked another couple of seconds off. In the meantime I caught and passed Ade's Corvette for 8th, which looking at the results is probably the best I could have hoped for under all dry conditions.

A very interesting race and I'm glad now I bumped the changeability of the weather up a little when I generated the file. :) Pity I couldn't take advantage myself but it was a great result for Team Shark. :D

 ::).....you could have told the rest of us about the bumped weather too.  :P

Not that it would have made any difference to me...I'm cwappy in the damp, wet or floods  ;D

I know circuits are known to have there own micro-climates but that was interesting being as the rest of the area was dry!

I was lucky to get our reasonably early in qualifying but on my first lap the tyres still werent up to a good temperature then came across the rain coming upto the final chicane and took it a bit easy. Then went out a few times trying out the wet tyres but just sat there praying for dry conditions in the race which sadly didnt arrive. Went with hard wets all round but didnt realy change the setup at all which in those conditions didnt help and struggled for a few laps and decided to let those behind through as i realised some people had qualified out of position and I assume had soft wets on. Then for a while just tried to work out how to drive in those conditions.

When the rain stopped several people seemed to dive into the pits but it seemed too early so decided to wait a bit longer which was good as for some reason it took forever to dry out, in fact i left it to my first stop which surprisingly took me to over half way through where i switched onto slicks but struggled to switch off the ignition (do i need to hold it down?)which wasted 20 seconds. The second half started pretty damp in places which still made it tricky for quite a while. When TT and Gazza came round to lap me I couldnt see Gazza at all, I only knew he was somewhere from the tag pointing down.

After struggling with mental arithmitic while driving i realised i had enough fuel to last to the end so had to do a quick pit stop but accidently changed tyres at the same time then came out with 30 mins to go with no one to chase and rapidly lost concentration as i was getting extremely knackered having never driving for this long before.

Congrats to all those who finished.

I need to have a look at the GT cars again as i thought the Listers were on Michelin according to the tech specs, or is it just for those who have a skin?

Sorry, but I agree. You get used to the system and base your prep for the race on what you know. If you are going to tamper with it then please make it public.

Really enjoyed the race despite making a horlicks of the tyre choice. Got lucky in qual by getting a quick one in before the rain, but found the lambo was a pig in wet weather using my setup. I tried to soften it a bit but it was still very twitchy and there was no time to sort it out. For whatever reason I started on soft wets all round, which very quickly showed itself to be awful - the rears were near 300F in a few laps  :eek: I tried to struggle on and hope to keep those behind at bay for a while but the tail got so wayward it was a no brainer to pit and change to hard wet rears. This put me near the back but I gradually climbed up the order as people fell off or pitted. I found it impossible to judge how wet the track was. When I pitted the 2nd time it was still reflecting a bit and spray was coming up, but I still gambled on slicks knowing things were not good either way.  Coming out it was instantly clear that the slicks were miles faster, which doesn't ring true to me - spray and reflections mean wet tyres needed. Anyway, from then on I was making up for lost time and turned a 45 sec gap into single digits by my final (3rd) stop 30 mins from the end. I then caught up the TT/Reign man/Gazza group and had a great battle with first Gazza (loved the side by side stuff in the stadium section  :thumbup2: ) and then reign man who spun in front of me and I couldn't avoid hitting. The car was slower after that (splitter damage?) and I couldn't get back on terms with the others, so ended up 5th.

Congrats to JR who was in a different class, to Simon who was very quick all the way through and to TT who doggedly hung on for 3rd. The race was such a challenge throughout that it didn't feel long at all -  in some ways I wanted it to carry on to try and get another place.

Yep so do I!!! i cant be fair to show the race as real time weather, then for someone to change the setting before the race  ??? must be of advantage to those in the know >:( all the same enjoyed the race . Love and kisses Ade .

Hmm. Well, I've long held the opinion that water ruins racing, changeable weather destroys it. An opinion not shared by many GTR drivers, I think.

Anywho, started second to last, on wet soft/hard combo. Picked up a few places at first, as others were taking it very carefully. Rain stopped, but with hardly any experience in GTR rain racing I wasn't sure when it was possible to switch tires. They were all bright red after a while, and when I saw Dave pit I decided to follow his lead. Took mediums all around, hoping for the best.

Seems Dave could drive with those, but I couldn't. Spun a bunch of times, driving was horrible, not fun at all. Damaged my car, loosing pieces from the front making the car undriveable through fast corners. Came in for repairs, came out, spun a couple times, damaged my front again. That was enough. Rain really is not for me.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the rain, but some of the lads spend hours fine tuning a  setup on-line coz off line it never works the same??? as for me i don't know what to tweak to make the most of the car ?? personally i cant just show up and race!!! it takes me loads of laps and time to get it together, just don't have the time to sort out wet n dry setups for every race. just in case the weather man is telling fibs.

When have you ever known the weatherman to get it right?  :laugh:

The weather files are seeded (based on) real world weather as reported by the local weather station just before a race. Unfortunately, (as happens in the real world), the practice weather files are seeded at an earlier time and can only report the weather as is at that time. So (as happens in the real world), it could change by race time. Basically, using real world weather is....errrrrm....realistic. The pre race practice has to be done in the conditions applicable at the time...which may well be sunny and dry....but the race is run at the stated time and the weather in the real world could have changed a lot.

I do attempt to update the weather files on the practice servers as often as possible...to try and get them as close to current/expected weather at the time....but it is unpredictable.


The race was still totally based on real world weather....practice and the start of qually were dry and the temps similar to what was reported from the weather station.

All that was changed from what Dave 'tweaked' was the amount of changeabillity the program itself could apply to those conditions.... again based on the data it received from the weather file. It only actually produced a small amount of rain....but it took a little longer than normal for the track to dry afterwards.....personally, I think this is much closer to how it would happen in Germany in real life....You only really see the the tracks dry instantaniously in very hot places, like Dubai for instance.

No problems with me Psuedo, i wear wellies wet or dry  ;) you guys do a great job, and i for one bow down to your mastery of all things computary, if that's a word !! keep up the good work  :thumbup2: as for me since i found you guys late last year i ain't had so much fun :clown: for ages  :) think the missus  may disagree  ;D or  should i get my army sleeping bag out and hit a few festivals again O0

Sleeping bag......I NEVER sleep when I'm at a festival  :laugh: (spent a few hours unconcious though  ;))

Unconscious! that's classed as sleep , unless your in a hospital.
anyways stop talking kack on a very serious thread! this sort of banter is for Idell chit chat :D need some unconsciousness

As psuedo has already said, the weather is based on the real world conditions, but since GTR2 has no way to do actual real time weather (and we wouldn't want it anyway) the rest is randomly generated, and always has been.

Normally when we use changeable weather everyone moans that it doesn't actually change, so I bumped up the (totally arbitrary) change rate slightly to encourage more variation. That worked nicely and we had one brief thunderstorm which made the track very wet and then it slowly dried out and warmed up. Random but probably quite realistic for that part of the world.

And what do I get for my trouble? Abuse, and thinly veiled accusations of cheating. :no:

Paul, I would love to know exactly how you would've changed your preparation based on going from some chance of rain to a very slightly greater chance of rain. I had no more idea what the weather was actually going to do that you - if I had I would never have changed onto slicks so early!

Not picking on you, Ade, your post just "has it all in".  :)
I spent time setting up a car in time-trial, off-line. I don't think I spent a minute on-line, just to check I have the right track to train on. There is a difference in grip when you come to the server, it changes and times vary. But the balance of the car is the same and I came to know I can drive the same way in race, brake points are the same, also points when you floor it (or don't  ;) ). Of course it all changes when it rains and there comes how well you know the car, your wheel, the track and your nerves.  ;D

I must say I didn't have a separate setup for the rain. With the introduction of dynamic weather I set the car for raining less and less. All I did was take the dry race setup, stick hard wets on and brake ballance 2% to the rear. That was my rain setup, wing stayed on 7 as it was for the dry.  :)  Looking on the weather prediction in race I surmised the track is going to dry a bit, not get wetter.

And: what's with all the  :taz: about the weather?  ???  I'm here from Season 1 and as far as I can remember there was a talk about the dynamic weather, the real conditions, not knowing about the next minute, how this is "the only real endurance experience". Well, all that was here yesterday. I want more of it, not less.  :(  That's my only chance against all the aliens.  :1eye:
Well done, Dave.  8)

TT 

In expressing my opinion, I didin't mean it as a suggestion to change things, I know that's not going to happen. Nor is it a complaint against SROU, I'm just venting my frustration a bit, regarding my own limitations, really. I doubt I'll ever discover the joy of wet racing, whether virtual or real.

My initial post was not meant in any way to be abusive or accusing. Nobody (including Dave) could have known exactly what effect the slight change would make....I only mentioned it so the same settings can be used when I generate the weather for the practice servers.

That's a dead easy one to answer - I spent a fair amount of time on the server during the day (although I didn't drive that many laps because I was working) and there wasn't a spot of rain as far as I can remember. Given this and the fact that I've got so used to dry endurance races and the lack of variation, I didn't bother to do any wet practice or sort out a setup. Now, if you had posted beforehand telling us that you had made the algorithm more variable, and/or you had changed the server setting last week to give us a chance to experience the difference (maybe you did?) then you can bet I would have tried a wet weather setup.

There is no way of knowing if your tweak made a big difference or not, but I have to ask, what was the problem with telling us what you were going to do?

Anyway, I had a great race and I'm not blaming you for my tyre cock-up or anything else. I also like the increased variability as there has been too little in endurance races (which partly explains my lack of experience in dealing with them). I'd just have liked to know that the change had been made.

All up, a race of "firsts" in many respects:  first competitive GTR2 race in a GT1, and first experience with 'changeable weather', and it certainly showed.  As a pure 'game play' experience, it was all desperately exciting, and probably very realistic for the series/event it was trying to 'simulate'! 

In typical 'newbish' fashion, all my pre-race preparation was based on dry setup work, trying to maximise the low-end torque of the Lambo gear-box to achieve maximum power-down out of the corners.  I had never run any race/practice with rain or wet conditions, nor tried any of the 'wet' tyres in the game before, so the pre-race start period was one of near blind panic of trying all the tyre types, and resetting my gear-box, wing, dampers, etc., for what I hoped would be an appropriate wet weather set-up.

Having been fortunate to get out in Quali 'early', I managed a 'banker' lap that put me artificially up the order in 7th, before the heavens opened, and the set-up panic ensued.  The race start seemed OK, with hard wets on, but lots of us were obviously struggling to stay on the track and get braking points right, as I was punted twice from behind, and fell well down the running.  The sudden stoppage of the rain was the final straw:  my wets began to run super hot, so I dived into the pits for medium slicks, and it all went pear-shaped afterwards as it was much too early, and the track wasn't drying out very quickly.  :-[ My struggles to stay on the 'black stuff' just got me in the way of others, and after being hit off again at the Schumacher S-curve on lap 8, I hit the wall and spun broadside on, across the track with other cars approaching.  My available reserve of patience was used up at this point, so I 'punched out', rather than risk ruining someone one else's race experience.

All in all, desperately exciting, and desperately frustrating--lots to learn.   ;D

Same here Mike, my opinion.  :)  Of course not everybody likes wet conditions. I was saying that after so many seasons of mostly dry races, with an occasional wet one, we finally have changing weather with demanding conditions. More comes into play than just simple speed. So, as I'm not the fastest I have more chances - at least before the aliens learn the thingy...  ;D

TT

Seriously Mike, stick with trying out the wet weather. I seriously couldn't get round a single corner in warmup or at the end of qually. With this in mind, when the race started I simply told myself to only use the car in absolute keep it on the track mode. Half throttle and I found more importantly half brake and no more. Did the trick. Once I got a good feel for driving within myself it's just a case of speeding up very gently.

As I had done no practice it really didn't bother me what the weather was doing and it was really tricky throughout working out how to drive and what to do with strategy. I wonder weather the changeability should default to a little higher than it does at the moment as it was really challenging and enjoyable imho. Maybe just for the Super Endurance, maybe for the 80 minute races, but they seem so short nowadays. ;D ;D

Will the new variability be used in the normal endurance races (such as tonght)?

I loved the conditions, they really make it interesting.
If I wouldn't have gone out the first lap in qually, I would have been at the back, and the race would have looked totally different.
I also went off during the race, almost costing me a lot of damage.
Anything can happen in these kind of races, so it's really worth sticking to the end and never giving up.

I didn't expect any rain as well, and also wasn't prepared. I only joined the server 30 or so minuts before. I had done no praccy before so all was new to me.
When it rained during the official event, I just tweaked the standard things done to a wet setup. It wasn't perfect, but doably.
In reallife, teams don't have a million laps to perfection their setup as well, and often have to give in to a half baked setup.
This all adds to realism for me.
And you are doing super endurance, so having a wet setup ready is normal. Then you only need minor tweaks and you're ready.

I was disappointed when Spa was dry, but this all made up for it ;D. Like Psuedo said, it dried up very slowly, which is more like it should be, and it made it very interesting during the race.
It was all about guessing the right option.


whether  ::) :P

LOL! Too much talk about the weather got my whethers mixed up, thanks for the correction. ;) :P

I also think it worked great for the weather yesterday....not to sure it should be defaulted to a little higher though...I know it makes it a little more complicated....(but not too much)....but imo the 'changeabillity' factor should relate to the real world changeabillity in the country the track is situated.

You often see more dramatic weather changes in the UK, Germany for example, but its much more stable and predictable in places like Spain or Dubai etc. This would add to the realism of the conditions expected (as shown yesterday) and of course give folk a more realistic chance of being able to predict and prepare.

Have read the comments of some of the contenders and I must say that I feel lucky I didn't attend the race. (Had to pick up my kids at 18.00 here in Sweden) But Stayed to watch... and it was a BLAST. Really close racing from some drivers (TT, Gazza, Paul, RM) to mention a few. I must say that I didn't envy any of the drivers but ass TT says. It's consistency that is the biggest factor that comes to play for a race like this. I was lucky to be able to watch it and can only applaud the drivers in there... WELL DONE all of you. Worst possible start for allot of you. (lack of practice in rain or just no good rain setup) but some still tried to finish and did so with honers  :thumbup2: I now feel that it was a good decision to stay clear from this particular race (lack of practice in rain and no real setup for the wet conditions) I would probably messed up the race for some of you and that is for no good to none of us  :blink:

Once again a bow my head to the once who had the "nerve" to attend and to finish (even so in last place)  :yes:

That's why it's called "random". There's no way to regenerate a weather file for each 'event' in practice - the game simply doesn't allow it.

But it isn't random - it is based on real weather with a random element thrown in and was regenerated by Pseudo at least once on the day and during the previous couple of days) as I remember. Running the server with real weather beforehand is to give us a chance to practice online with conditions that may occur in the race. We are not privvy to the algorithm you use to generate the weather file, so the only way to know how likely it is to rain is experience - how often does it rain for particular weather conditions on the server. If the algorithm changes then I see no reason not to tell us so that we can take account of it. Also, although I don't think for a minute you would use the information to your advantage, telling us would remove any suggestion that you had.

Fun race I thought :)

I made many mistakes including wrong tyres (extra pit stop) and damage after a big off (another pit stop) but the weather variation and the Psuedo Team speak kept the whole race interesting even though i was not near any other cars for most of the race. The team speak chatter was all about the weather and how everyone was coping with their tyre choices which really added an extra dimension to the race for me. I guess that this is how it would be in real life racing, when it starts to rain with the whole team communicating about the weather and how to deal with it.

The conditions seemed very 'real' to me, in previous races the rain seemed to stop very quickly and the track has dried up very fast. I thought that it got a bit too hot at the end and the track may have taken slightly longer to dry than it should but i really enjoyed the race and I do hope to see this level of changeable conditions in future races.

Just a suggestion but perhaps the weather generator could be altered to increase the changeability of rain and temps separately. For example Nuerburg highly changeable rain but not temps could have worked better IMO and say a high changeable temp but not rain setting for Dubai (not sure if Dubai is the best example but I think you get the idea).

Thanks for another amazing race. I am really happy that I got the end ;D

I believe the temp variation has been toned down in the past because it was changing far too much. It's not realistic to have the temperature go from 15 to 40 in a single race. The temp would only ever change I would say max 10 degrees during a real race.

Good point, please ignore my previous suggestion, it is complete nonsense ::). I took a look at the wether file and it seems perfectly reasonable as a days weather at Nurburging (i am no weather expert though).

Now its job well done in my opinion.