Proposed new UKGTR ballasts

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

After a couple of days' discussion, here are our proposed new ballast values (new values in blue where they've changed).

GT:

Ferrari	550 Maranello	17.0
Lamborghini	Murcielago R-GT	10.0
Ferrari	575 GTC	9.0
Saleen	S7-R	12.0	7.0
Chevrolet	Corvette C5-R	-5.0	-10.0
Lister	Storm	-3.0	-10.0
Maserati	MC12	-1.0	-10.0
Dodge	Viper GTS-R	-10.0	-15.0

NGT:

BMW	M3 GTR	80.0	72.0
SEAT	Toledo	60.0
Porsche	996 GT2 Bi-turbo	50.0
Porsche	996 GT3-RSR	50.0
Ferrari	360 GTC	30.0
Porsche	911 GT3-RS	20.0
Ferrari	360 Modena	10.0
Mosler	MT900R	-20.0	-25.0
Morgan	Aero 8	-30.0	-35.0
TVR	Tuscan T400R	-40.0
Nissan	350Z	-50.0
Gillet	Vertigo Streiff	-70.0

We propose to reintroduce the Porsche 993 GT2 in the G2 class, where it will be able to race in events eligible to either GT or NGT cars, but will not score points, the intention being to allow very fast drivers who aren't in a championship hunt to see if they can get in amongst the slower GT drivers, or slower drivers who aren't in a championship hunt to try and get in amongst the faster NGT drivers.

There will be a full reevalutaion of the ballasts and classes before Season 5 but I've gone for minimal change until the end of Season 4.

These numbers are not cast in stone but will be by the time version 2.2 of the skin and ballast pack is published next week, so if you have any comments, get them in now.

[EdamSpeed]

 

Hooray for less ballast on the Saleen

[PaulW]

Looks good, having driven most of them by now.

[Radius]

Hooray for less ballast on the Saleen

I second that whole heartedly!!!

Lambo should be 12 

...tbh the list looks really good and well thought out!...im glad to not see any biased changes to the 350Z 

[Mark J]

For what its worth, my opinion on racing with them or against them both with and without ballast, is:-

The Lambo and 550 dominate the GT field at the moment, and the Lambo at least needs to be curtailed a tad. Its quite noticeable on track that the biggest number of cars present are these two GT's, which would suggest many are well aware of that fact.
I think a bit more should come off the Saleen. Simbin finally fixed the abnormal rear tyre shredding characteristic of this car, but then the ballast pack seemed to re-instate it.   Its no fun having a good car for the first half of the race, knowing that in the second part you will be sliding like Bambi on ice and you end up not choosing it because of it, as its just frustrating.
Maybe the -5 will help.

The RSR is a conundrum because though i hate the way the ballast affects the handling, i can see it needs to be neutered to stop the aliens all jumping into it. Though i have noticed a few more aliens drifting towards the 360GTC as of late...which is a good thing for the variety stakes.
Of course, one of the things simbin should be fixing in the patch is the implementation of the online 'success' ballasting for race winners etc..ie as its meant to be.   I take it they're not ?
The problem is us mortals get punished the same as the aliens but with their bigger skill advantage it has less of an affect on their lap times.
I had a TPG race (without ballast) the day after our endurance race at Zhuhai and i was a second a lap quicker, because to me the car handled a lot more as i expected...i could have done with that pace in our race !!

Just my ramblings 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

The Lambo and 550 dominate the GT field at the moment, and the Lambo at least needs to be curtailed a tad. Its quite noticeable on track that the biggest number of cars present are these two GT's, which would suggest many are well aware of that fact.

The Lambo is poular as much as anything because it's easy to drive and relatively kind to its tyres - its results reflect this, with it winning 3 out of 4 in the Masters Endurance (and also, in fact, in Academy), but not once in GT Sprint, which has seen 550s and 575s dominate. It seems to popular because it's nice to drive, not because it's particularly quick.

The RSR is a conundrum because though i hate the way the ballast affects the handling, i can see it needs to be neutered to stop the aliens all jumping into it. Though i have noticed a few more aliens drifting towards the 360GTC as of late...which is a good thing for the variety stakes.

Indeed. I hate all 911s with a passion, but members are still flocking to them despite the heavy ballast. I'm convinced that the GTC is faster, kinder to its tyres and generally nicer to drive... but also much harder to set up.

Of course, one of the things simbin should be fixing in the patch is the implementation of the online 'success' ballasting for race winners etc..ie as its meant to be.   I take it they're not ?

That's a rhetorical question, right?

The problem is us mortals get punished the same as the aliens but with their bigger skill advantage it has less of an affect on their lap times.
I had a TPG race (without ballast) the day after our endurance race at Zhuhai and i was a second a lap quicker, because to me the car handled a lot more as i expected...i could have done with that pace in our race !!

All the alternatives to what we've done seem worse from a fun point of view, but we'll look again at the end of Season 4.

[Mark J]

The problem is us mortals get punished the same as the aliens but with their bigger skill advantage it has less of an affect on their lap times.
I had a TPG race (without ballast) the day after our endurance race at Zhuhai and i was a second a lap quicker, because to me the car handled a lot more as i expected...i could have done with that pace in our race !!

All the alternatives to what we've done seem worse from a fun point of view, but we'll look again at the end of Season 4.

Don't suppose we could limit the type of car that a 'said alien' could drive ? ....ie in the form of a success ballast, they can only choose an Elise next race if they win  .......but seriously, would it cause uproar if they were given restrictions on car choice? (probably!) or have a pre-determined point/time penalty applied to them if they use a certain car type. Lets face it, we all know who the aliens are, so we could slap a 'speed tax' on them    The trick is encouraging the fast guys into slower cars to make the racing a little more even. Wouldnt a GTL style handicap system work with GTR2 league ?

These are of course all the mutterings of a mad man who is jealous of the alien pace, so ignore me if you choose  ...........at your peril 
Damn simbin and their lack of the all important success ballast. 

[Jeffrey]

I might go with the Saleen for the GT sprints, and the C5R for the Enduro events in season 5.

Bashing aliens is not very fair to be honoust. In other leagues I have peope who are faster than me, well, so be it, I ain't good enough then. I don't want to try anything to make them slower, I want to make myself quicker.

The GTL ladder point are worst than the weight, as I'd rather fight it out on track, than on paper.

But as I said, with the new weight reductions, I might just pick cars I like to race more. I'm tyred of the Lambo, hate the 550 (was a lastminute decision as I had no praccy).

I loved the Lister in GTR1, and with the V8 soundspack, I also love the Saleen and C5R.

[EdamSpeed]

I think a bit more should come off the Saleen. Simbin finally fixed the abnormal rear tyre shredding characteristic of this car, but then the ballast pack seemed to re-instate it.

I agree, I think some more weight should come off the Saleen, but then again I would say that, as I suck with it To be honest the 04 car with Pirellis is much kinder to it's rears than the 03 cars. Perhaps Simbin didn't fix it, but the real life teams did by changing tyres?

[Radius]

The saleen was ballasted abit too heavily (knowing its characteristics) but ive been "successfully" giving the other aliens trouble with it but i knew exactly when it would be a pig and thats just over half distance not even 3/4's like the rest of the field!!!

So hopefully with the new ballast it will be a bit faster but im not so sure the wear will change much...sadly

[Jeffrey]

At Simracing.nl the Saleen won the championship, beating a sh*tload of 550's. So it's NOT a bad car, it's very competitive on the right tracks!

[Radius]

Oh yeah, nobody said it was a bad car, but refering to the ballasted versions as simracing.nl dont use im sure

[popabawa]

That's it for the Vertigo then. I'm really struggling against the BMW and RSR as it is now but with a bit of weight those cars off that makes it even more difficult  :'(

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

That's it for the Vertigo then. I'm really struggling against the BMW and RSR as it is now but with a bit of weight those cars off that makes it even more difficult  :'(

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Let's face it, nothing short of a power hike would have made the Vertislow competetive.

[popabawa]

Well, you could have given all the other cars a +100kg hike 

I reluctantly agree, I just don't want to drop it but there's not really a practical solution

[EDIT] Actually I disagree when it comes to Endurance, it's not that far off due to the super-quick pitstop you can take with no fuel or tyres required. Then again, you can't make the ballast pack revolve around one car. [/EDIT]