I must confess that there were moments when I was actually enjoying this car/track combo, but there were more moments when I was not quite so comfortable.
Grats to the podium guys and to all those who survived to the finish. Apologies for my dramatic start and instant return to the pits Tony....my right foot must have put on weight after qualifying??
I had downloaded Hristo's setup at the last moment ( I have not the smallest clue about developing a setup for this type of car! ) and jumped onto the race server.
The first 10 "out laps" all ended in embarrassment and bent bits of Porsche scattered around the French countryside, followed by a return to the pits.
Hristo's setups always feel too twitchy for me, even though I like a very quick steering rack but I think he has a much more cultured right foot and does not stamp on the gas.
Last night I was beginning to understand the technique required to make H's setups work, although I still had to reduce the diff settings a click or two to soften things. Personally I like some lift off oversteer, so that if I back off in a corner, usually because I am being over ambitious, the car will tighten it's line and I have a chance of applying some opp lock to save myself.
Hristo's setup felt like the opposite and an instinctive lift would bring on understeer that was catastrophic. But.... a big but, if I kept 10-20% throttle fed into the car things improved dramatically and suddenly the beast was able to take corners at speed. There was still a very sharp turn in with more grip than I was expecting and several times I was thinking that I had outbraked myself, but when I eased off the brake pedal the car turned in so sharply that I "T" boned the inside wall before I reached the apex??? I need some practice with that aspect LOL. The last chicane was a challenge all night long, I just could not find the braking point to arrive at the turn in spot at the correct speed. Maybe once I got close and posted a 3:21 lap, but there were still seconds escaping through there.
I am still working on my rig and slowly bringing things into the "comfort/confidence zone" both in GTL and GPL. Last night was the first outing with my Fanatec pedals utilising the pressure pad on the brake pedal. It took quite a few laps to get even remotely connected with that device and by the end of the race I was literally standing on the brake pedal and making all the seat joints creak at Mulsanne Corner, and even then it did not lock up!! I think I need to reduce the strength of the resistance pads as it was becoming very hard work........but maybe quite realistic??
I am still searching for a solution to my GTL FF woes with no success. Again last night I had very light FF in PRACTICE, Heavy FF in QUALIFYING and light FF for the RACE all without making any changes to the CONTROL menu
Would I like to race these cars again..............well yes/maybe.