UKGTR Season 5 Endurance Masters - Magny-Cours (GP) - Jul 15

[Jeffrey]

Okay, I'm really pissed off with wasting hours of my valuable time building killer setups, only to find I can't even take part in the races. So, in future it would be much better if the weather file was generated based on the real weather a week in advance of the event, and stated in the initial race announcement so people know if it is going to be a wet race and can either build the correct setup for the conditions, or in my case not bother wasting any time if its going to be wet. Until this happens, I'm not going to waste any more of my time with these GT1 races.

There is nothing more unpredictable than the weather (well...maybe a women ), and that gives a race an awesome twist. Just see what happened this race, many made a mistake with start-tires and had to come in. This shuffled the whole grid up and not make it a: "drive from start till finish in the same position race".
If you want to be prepared, make a good dry setup and use that to make a wetsetup. Once you get the basics of the wet setup right, it's just a matter of minutes before have a good set for both.
I don't even have a wetsetup, just my dry setup with +2 wing and raintires 

[Truetom]

Okay, I'm really pissed off with wasting hours of my valuable time building killer setups, only to find I can't even take part in the races. So, in future it would be much better if the weather file was generated based on the real weather a week in advance of the event, and stated in the initial race announcement so people know if it is going to be a wet race and can either build the correct setup for the conditions, or in my case not bother wasting any time if its going to be wet. Until this happens, I'm not going to waste any more of my time with these GT1 races.

I agree with Pops and Rusky, Nev, a bit too harsch.  
I also "wasted" a lot of time on a killer dry setup which proved to be a mistake concerning yesterdays race. But I'm mostly pissed at myself not to put some laps into the possibility of a wet race.  
I feel the dynamic weather is a step forward and it's up to us to adapt. To be honest, I didn't anticipate a storm even in a dream, light rain at the most with blackestest scenario   which I intended to race with a dry setup. Well, it proved differently. I vote for continuation of dynamic weather and I'd like to backup Sharks mention of a minor adaptation of the weather file. Conditions were a bit unusual.  

TT    

[Jeffrey]

I'd also like to see weatherchanges in the sprintraces, as that could really stir things up

[psuedo]

Those conditions took everybody by suprise....Nobody anticipated a wet race, especially with the real world weather being good in France before the race...but the weather is changable and a little unpredictable....(I live in the UK...say no more ) and I think it is good how this is handled by the weather files generated.

I think everyone has learnt a valuable lesson from this....I for one will be doing a LOT more practice in bad conditions and experimenting with adapting my setups to cope.

[Nevski]

Its not about building a wet setup or being able to drive in the wet. Some systems simply can't handle the extra CPU load with rain, reflections and headlights all on. Mine is one of those systems. So, I won't bother running in the endurance races anymore until the rules are changed to reflect those facts.

[Kerr]

I'm not against running in the wet as in the real world this will happen.

On saying that in the real world you can forsee the weather conditions, roughly.

I think everone was caught out tonight as the weather was good in France I was informed. I think maybe some kind of warning might have helped.

It was extra difficult for us who joined in GT3 cars as we had no practice time in wet, not even the two 10 minute practice servers.

Can you not set the practice server using the weather file a couple of hours before the race?

Also regarding the temperature, that will explain why my hard wet tyres were getting so hot really quickly. I tried using soft wets in qualifying and after 1 lap they were 150 plus degrees. It did not seem a true reflection of wet driving

Strangely the temperature was a bit random the the endurance clubmens race last week. It seemed to fluctuate by quite some level

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

So, I won't bother running in the endurance races anymore until the rules are changed to reflect those facts.

The rules aren't going to be changed like that, Nev - the unpredictability of the weather is an intended part of endurance racing. My system is hardly state of the art any more but I manage to extract acceptable frame rates out of it by turning a lot of the effects down.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Strangely the temperature was a bit random the the endurance clubmens race last week. It seemed to fluctuate by quite some level

The amibent temperature moves within a relatively narrow band based on the initial conditions; as Shark says, I should probably adjust the script a little so that the temperature drops a bit when it rains (or rises if it dries out).

[Simon Gymer]

Wet setup, what's that? I just use my dry with maybe a little bit extra wing and a bit less brakes and stick the right tyres on (which apparently is a lot harder than it sounds. ). Killer dry setups are still valid because they basically setup the car correct for the circuit, rain just slows you down it doesn't invalidate the setup for the circuit.

Nev, try adjusting a few of the graphics settings (see my incomplete guide on graphics settings) to see if you can run in the rain. If you're really struggling in the rain for FPS then I would suggest turning off all headlight effects, then going for reflections, then going for special effects. CPU is more important than graphics card for the rain/night effects so anything you can do to increase your CPU speed will help.

[Truetom]

Well, I can't change just the wing and tyres, seems like my dry setup with said changes just burns the rear tyres and I have no chance of getting through the race with it. 

TT

[Nevski]

Wet setup, what's that? I just use my dry with maybe a little bit extra wing and a bit less brakes and stick the right tyres on (which apparently is a lot harder than it sounds. ). Killer dry setups are still valid because they basically setup the car correct for the circuit, rain just slows you down it doesn't invalidate the setup for the circuit.

Nev, try adjusting a few of the graphics settings (see my incomplete guide on graphics settings) to see if you can run in the rain. If you're really struggling in the rain for FPS then I would suggest turning off all headlight effects, then going for reflections, then going for special effects. CPU is more important than graphics card for the rain/night effects so anything you can do to increase your CPU speed will help.

Its not going to happen with this rig Simon. Even with everything turned down (it is anyway) I only get about 5 to 10 fps in the wet. I don't have a problem with you guys running wet races, I would just like to know they are going to be wet in advance so I don't waste valuable hours practicing for a race I won't be able to take part in. As the rules stand at present though, I won't be taking any further part in the endurance events, sadly.

[psuedo]

Wet setup, what's that? 

not that I can argue with a class winner when I dropped out   ....but I reckon dry set ups are usually made as 'stiff' as possible for the track...which gives better speed etc but does make them a little skittish...more responsive. For wet conditions, I agree that the basic dry setup will be the one to use..(so time not actually wasted developing one) but the whole thing would need softening a bit coupled to the more wing and right tyres...with lower revs and a tighter diff.  It would probably be fairly safe to develop a 'template' for the basic adustments that you can apply to any dry setup for any circuit..then just make some minor tweaks to suit.

[Zacari]

I never consider practicing for a race as 'wasted time', regardless of if I make the race or not.  I've lost count of the number of laps I've done round Monza just for the hell of it and anytime I practice for a race is time I enjoy, not just a chore for a better race setup.

Wet setup, what's that? I just use my dry with maybe a little bit extra wing and a bit less brakes and stick the right tyres on (which apparently is a lot harder than it sounds. ). Killer dry setups are still valid because they basically setup the car correct for the circuit, rain just slows you down it doesn't invalidate the setup for the circuit.

This is totally true.  All I do for a wet setup is to soften the car up a bit and add more wing.

PC spec is an unfortunate problem, but the enduro's have always been marked as 'changeable' weather so that possibility is to be expected.  Doesn't make it any less of a pain when it happens to be wet, though

Anyone who was having major issues with tyres yesterday was almost certainly on the wrong ones.  Nothing to do with ambient being high; soft wets were only suited to part of the race, and were unsuitable during all of qualifying.  Even hard wets were pushing it in quali!

And I still don't understand why people ever blow engines, I'm sure Jeff uses engine braking into corners too much!

For wet conditions, I agree that the basic dry setup will be the one to use..(so time not actually wasted developing one) but the whole thing would need softening a bit coupled to the more wing and right tyres...with lower revs and a tighter diff.  It would probably be fairly safe to develop a 'template' for the basic adustments that you can apply to any dry setup for any circuit..then just make some minor tweaks to suit.

Tighter diff?  Really?  I always assumed the softer the better in slippery conditions, or braking traction on the inside wheel would cause the outside one to brake traction too.  With a softer diff, any exessive acceleration would allow the inside wheel to brake traction without causing exessive rpm to the outer wheel, which keeps the car more stable under acceleration out of slow corners.  At least, that's what I think

No need to lower the rpm of the engine either, just short-shift in the lower gears or be gentler on the throttle.  I've never raced with anything other than full rpm in the setup, and I've still yet to blow an engine.

[psuedo]

Tighter diff?  Really?  I always assumed the softer the better in slippery conditions, or braking traction on the inside wheel would cause the outside one to brake traction too.  With a softer diff, any exessive acceleration would allow the inside wheel to brake traction without causing exessive rpm to the outer wheel, which keeps the car more stable under acceleration out of slow corners.  At least, that's what I think

  ...thats what I meant.....

I also forgot to say that reducing the camber is good thing too...there isn't as much grip and you are cornering much slower than normal so camber becomes much less useful.....(I hope )

[Zacari]

I also forgot to say that reducing the camber is good thing too...there isn't as much grip and you are cornering much slower than normal so camber becomes much less useful.....(I hope )

Yep, that's a good one too!  I lowered my f+r cambers slightly but maybe not enough.  That'll be a good experiment to run in a test.