UKGTR Season 6 Upper Endurance - Monza (GP) - Sep 16

[DynoDaz]

Once the issues with GTR Manager are sorted out, please can the practise server run with the correct ballasts for the upcoming race.  Is this possible?

Don't know about you guys, but my negative ballast actually made me go slower.  Crazy I know.  The balance of the car was all wrong and very twitchy under braking.  I tried to compensate by moving the brake biased forward, which worked, but meant I could no longer stop as fast.  

I had to put half a tank of fuel in just to get a decent qualifying lap.  

[BACKO]

Was going reasonably well for a while (except I was getting a lot of 'blue flag' warnings despite no one behind me), and I'd made a few places up to 8th. Mo and Backo had a coming together somehow at the Parabolica, and Backo looked to be spinning to the infield, so I went to the right, and met him coming up The result was a big puncture and body damage.  Really sorry Backo, I tried to avoid you, but couldn't see which way you were going.

Not good race for me today
Qualified  9'th
Race start ok ,after mistake Jure and mo I moved to 7'th,then my fault I've been  spin 8'th .I had nice chassing with Mo ,but he went too late or not strong on breaks and hit my back of my car and I've been spin again also I've been hit from EdamSpeed.I had something broke it on my car so I went to the pit for repair also my early main pitstop.I came back like 22'th I think ,started push but I did lots mistake which cost me 3 times stop and go,finally I finished 10'th.Also I had very close racing with Jure and Minton,sorry guys for little touch!

[Kerr]

Can't see anything wrong at all to cause the same problems again.

I have heard people talk about the 28 car problem. What normally goes wrong? Even if it was it's odd I'm the only one suffering.

I've had suggestions of things running in the background, but nothing was. Lastime I went directly to another server and all was well.

Even if something was running how would that cause my game to become mixed up and confuse drivers, miss laps completed and times etc?

So far it's happened in both upper endurance races and nowhere else. So far both upper endurance races are the only two races to manage a 28 car field

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

After a bit of a panic at the start getting the server and GTR2 Manager going (urgent post mortem tonight in time for tomorrow's race!) my qualifying went dreadfully, getting nowhere near my best from testing despite only carrying an extra 5kg.

On paper I should've been able to take softs all round and go to half distance. The numbers were spot on but by the time the front left reached 9.5 on the wear indicator, the car felt awful, no grip at the back under braking and understeer in all the right handers.

Up until then I'd been hanging on to, but not making any impression on, the cars ahead, so I decided to pit early, after about 30 minutes, and change to mediums all round. I wasn't 100% sure about just how much fuel I was going to need, so despite starting on 100L, I added about 8 litres just to be on the safe side. I actually finished with 20 in the tank so that was a waste of time.

Came out dead last, but the car felt better again. Kunckled down to a 98% pace; having cut Ascari on the second flying lap I couldn't afford any more cuts. It seemed to take forever for others to make their stops but after 20 minutes or so they started streaming into the pits, and after a few laps of that I was third in GTC, then fourth when Ginsters inevitably slipped past in the more powerful GT3-RS, which became my second podium of the year when PRibeiro retired.

Another good race for me, marred only by running slightly wide once in Lesmo 2, and a lack of preparation which could've cost me dearly had I not had the presence of mind to react immediately when my sofs went off and make a huge adjustment to my strategy, which paid off handsomely.

Good races with Ginsters and Jonzo; a few corners of driving above my station trying to make it hard for Paul968's Morgan; some scary moments with GT1 cars splitting GTC runners on the run to Parabolica; almost taking the front off as the result of a conflagration in the Retifilio.

That's what I hope is the Zed's worst track out of the way too...

had my late race ruined by a stop and go for one ferkin cut corner - how is that right? I was in a good battle with John and Picnic on track and that totally buggered my last third of race  , no previous warnings as i hadnt cut any corners all race until that one occasion whilst in fierce battle with Johns morgan, then it just said 'severe warning, stop and go' 

Interesting, I've heard of people getting a stop/go for a first offence (I had it in GTL but not in GTR2), but that's the first time somebody's noticed a specific message for it.

Well, I guess 4th is OK for the first trip out in a new car but I didn't drive very well and managed to ferk up my pit-stop, re-fuelling when I didn't need to. I had "number of pit-stops" set to zero so I guess it defaults to filling the tank to the brim  I was being so careful to change the tyres correctly (bit of a a novelty after a season in the Vertigo) that I didn't notice the fuel. Idiot. I think I would have pipped Dave for the final podium place

I also refuelled unnecessarily (see above) so I think we'd have been close...

Once the issues with GTR Manager are sorted out, please can the practise server run with the correct ballasts for the upcoming race.  Is this possible?

It's a bit tricky because

• the driving names have to be changeable until very near the event
• the ballasts for different championships are different

It's possible to practice off line with the right ballast, either by running a local dedi server and a copy of GTR2 Manager, or more simply by hosting a game inside GTR2 and not letting anyone else join, then you can edit the ballast on the Timing page (though I don't think negative ballasts are possible like that).

Even if something was running how would that cause my game to become mixed up and confuse drivers, miss laps completed and times etc?

That's normally a network issue - the 28 car field is suspicious, but unless you've been consistenly the 28th car in (I don't think you were) I can't see a reason why it should affect you specifically.

I'm sure I've asked this already but you are joining with ISDN set aren't you?

[Kerr]

I'm set to isdn and I was nowhere near last in. First dozen in game.     Why network dave and would that explain why my problems only come to head in qualification and not before? Both races so far in upper endurance are fine up to that point.   

[Simon Gymer]

had my late race ruined by a stop and go for one ferkin cut corner - how is that right? I was in a good battle with John and Picnic on track and that totally buggered my last third of race  , no previous warnings as i hadnt cut any corners all race until that one occasion whilst in fierce battle with Johns morgan, then it just said 'severe warning, stop and go' 

Interesting, I've heard of people getting a stop/go for a first offence (I had it in GTL but not in GTR2), but that's the first time somebody's noticed a specific message for it.

If the offence is deemed bad enough by the game it will give a stop go for one cut only, e.g. keep your foot down at T1 at Monza and go straight through the run-off road at full pelt and in a race you will get a stop go and no warning. Remember you don't get stop gos in any other session that race, so practicing you will only ever get a warning no matter what the offence.

In Mark's case the game has deemed his "cut" as very serious and that's what it's done.

[popabawa]

I just wanted to say thanks to Dave & Pete for their hard work fixing the problem before the race, I'm sure that wasn't ideal preparation for a long endurance race!

The ballasts seemed to work very well and be doing the job too, nice to see the grids mixed up like they were.

Great drive by Paul to win GTC with the ballast, if we can't beat you in the next race with 2 maximum's applied then I think we might as well give up!

[ginsters sponsored]

Just to help me with me maths, I guess the ballast listed above is your personal penalty/reward taken or added to the car you take? If so, sorry for twigging rather late and thats pretty impressive work Dave.

[Mark J]

thanks Simon, i suppose the problem with the game AI is it cannot differentiate between a deliberate blatant cut or a car getting a bit out of shape under pressure  , it was at Curva del Vialone on the final left turn where the small vee of grass crete is, whilst being chased hard by John in his Morgan.
Its a real kick in the teeth to get a S&G for something like that, especially at Monza where it kills your race  :'(

[Simon Gymer]

thanks Simon, i suppose the problem with the game AI is it cannot differentiate between a deliberate blatant cut or a car getting a bit out of shape under pressure 

Indeed. The way it checks for cuts is very primative and as you say does not take into account real world factors like actually losing time from the "cut", it's not quite just a check for using the rights bits of track as there does appear to be some speed calculation that gets thrown in for good measure, but there is the potential for improving that side of the game.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Why network dave and would that explain why my problems only come to head in qualification and not before? Both races so far in upper endurance are fine up to that point.   

Change of session will put more strain on the connection than other times - I think there's some resynchronisation done during that phase. Strange behaviour online when there's none offline, and for you when others are fine, surely suggests that the only element which is different is your network connection. Correlation may not always equal causality, but it can certainly drop big hints...

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Just to help me with me maths, I guess the ballast listed above is your personal penalty/reward taken or added to the car you take?

The success ballast is over and above the performance balancing ballast. The former is added to the driver at runtime by GTR2; the latter we do by adjusting the physics files when the skin pack is built.

[Paul Richards]

Tough race as usual here at Monza so quite pleased with my 4th place. Qualified well in 5th and went with my usual long first stint strategy starting on a full tank. With the driver ballast this made me very heavy at the start and I quickly lost touch with the front 4 and was pressured by TT and Mo. Car was awful in the opening laps. It was very nervous over the kerbs and understeeing badly through Ascari and I was struggling to get into the 44s! TT passed up the inside into the first chicane easily outbraking me. Teamie Mo then passed up the inside into Ascari but unlukily slid into the gravel after passing cleanly and fell back behind Backo. They were chasing me through the traffic but then dissappeared. Car was then much better and I was able to hold touch a bit better with the cars in front although a way back. Got passed CJ I guess with a damaged car just before he pitted and then Zacaris engine blew putting me up to 4th. Pit stop went ok. Broke very early and lost a bit of time on pit entry but came out 14 seconds behind TT and 18 ahead of Freq. Car was now better and was able to make very small in roads into the gap to TT but nothing significant. Freq however was closing and I caught a few cars in the wrong places and lost time so it was looking close for the finish. I was able to push on though (did my fastest lap on the second to last lap) and managed to hold him off enough to keep 4th. Congrats to Jeff for the win and Paul and Ian for their 1-2 in GTC.

Thanks to all the GTCs for the consideration during the lapping. Everyone was great and I hope I didn't slow any of you up while getting by.

In reference to the stop\gos I got one for a single cut in seasons 4 GT sprint on the original Monza track. Was approaching the first chicane battling with old nemesis Purdie when we both simultanously lost it. I ended up going backwards at a fair rate of knots over that bit of grass between the track and the escape road and got an instant s/g.

[Zacari]

Just for info in Kerr's issues, I was the first person on the server last night- though I'm not sure if that could cause an issue.  I can't remember when I joined in the first race in Valencia though.  Could it be something to do with the TSJ car?

[Kerr]

Why network dave and would that explain why my problems only come to head in qualification and not before? Both races so far in upper endurance are fine up to that point.   

Change of session will put more strain on the connection than other times - I think there's some resynchronisation done during that phase. Strange behaviour online when there's none offline, and for you when others are fine, surely suggests that the only element which is different is your network connection. Correlation may not always equal causality, but it can certainly drop big hints...

I think a few people have been having trouble with recording times.

I just thought it was very odd at Valencia( I got track mixed up earlier) that Zacari appeared as "Dan Minton" and I'm sure Dan lost connection at same point as me as I recall he never started race either, and again this week Zacari no time but i could see his name this time.

We ran through all sessions on practice server and no problems for me. I did notice that Jon had some serious connection problems. Strangely team shark junior car. Don't know as like Zacari suggests, something in that?