GRID Autosport GRID Autosport

[Bram Hengeveld]

Things are moving at Codemasters

 

[Karl Fuss]

No it's the GP circuit as far as I was aware but I selected that in a session earlier and it definitely wasn't the one in Roberts video. It started with a left hand kink followed by a tighter left then a right... Confused lol Problem is there's no track maps anywhere to check it out as far as I know. I'm sure Robert will clarify it later.

From the map above it looks like I might have started my race along the short straight before turn 7.. Maybe that's the reverse circuit

yes, lack of track maps is a problem.... the infield indy circuit has changed in recent years... the map above is the old gp circuit i think. it's much different from that now.

 

[Matthew Booth]

No it's the GP circuit as far as I was aware but I selected that in a session earlier and it definitely wasn't the one in Roberts video. It started with a left hand kink followed by a tighter left then a right... Confused lol Problem is there's no track maps anywhere to check it out as far as I know. I'm sure Robert will clarify it later.

From the map above it looks like I might have started my race along the short straight before turn 7.. Maybe that's the reverse circuit

Sounds like the sport circuit and not gp.peter. Is this the one you did?

 

[Peter Hooper]

Sounds like the sport circuit and not gp.peter. Is this the one you did?

Yep that's the one Boothy, I saw the graphic and just assumed it was the GP circuit. Oh well, back to the drawing board lol Glad I only spent 15 minutes on it now lol

 

[Karl Fuss]

i have no idea......
1:38.772. that's it.

 

[Rob]

Monday at 11pm London time going once, going twice....

 

[Rob]

but i'm still slow. Best time in custom cup practice/quali was 2:14.9 . Good enough for start position 3 in a race with the AI set to very hard, but no where near competitive for most here.
Not really sure where to go from here. I see the next race has been set so i'll see if i can improve there.

I think winning all those races in Cup has gotten you too used to dominating. That's a great time in D.C. And good enough to provide stiff competition to the Champ drivers and beat the snot out of the Cup drivers, including myself, who passed you in both races last Saturday. I see you are also routinely beating me, Railer and Peter in some of the challenges. I don't think it's that you are slow, but just that you may perceive it's slow because it's slower than F1. Just a guess....

Karl, with your skill, it's simply a matter of shaking off the F1-itis and you will be right up front with these cars. Can't say if you will like the game or not, but I'd say most of us do. The cars feel real to me. I like F1, but sometimes I can't relate because I've never raced those types of cars.

 

[Rob]

Part two of D.C. GP from My MINI:

 

[Rob]

Strange how some A.I. were ghosting and others were not. I do know if they corner cut, they ghost. Also there is some speculation that they ghost if you are lapped or they are lapped, but I can't confirm this, and it does not seem to be the case from the video.

In fact, @ 15:15 I have an epic battle (which I lose) with Mr. Russo.

 

[Rob]

OK just watched your video and that is not the Indianapolis circuit I drove lol

 

[Rob]

In the game, thereis only one "Grand Prix" Circuit, that I'm aware of. I thought ir would be clear because of the name of the race, but apparently not. Also, the video I attached is the GP Circuit. And yes, the infield circuit has undergone changes since F1 left, mostly to slow it down for the bikes. But the "real" one in my mind was always the "Grand Prix" Circuit which F1 drove.

Karl, I slapped this tune on:
Brakes -30
Diff +50
Downforce -50
Gears -0
Front Springs +50
Rear Springs +100

and did a bunch of practice laps. It's a tricky track until you get the rhythm down, then it is pretty simple, but still hard to go really fast. Gear down -3 at the 150 mile marker, turn in, careful left as you accelerate, then flat out and aim for the 50 sign at the "V" turn, slow 2 gears, brake a little and hit the apex, then flat out through the next turn as you accelerate. Approach the next left 1/2 circle with care. Slow in fast out, turning hard all the way. You can really gain time here, especially of you get quickly left afterwards and clip the right turn apex flat out. You can run on the green with no problem, but it's not as quick. After the straight is where the rhythm comes in. Turn in at 150 I think, gear or two down, maybe a brake tap to settle, then get way left and one more gear down, right, then gear down again and clip the left turn apex, then you can take the next right flat out if you hit it just right. Then on to the banked oval part.

 

[Rob]

Yea, the video is the GP Circuit, he just sucks ass at driving it.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I had another go at DC last night... with boothys setup then with Chris' setup...yuck. those soft springs are terrible. I stiffened them up and it felt hella better..... but i'm still slow. Best time in custom cup practice/quali was 2:14.9 . Good enough for start position 3 in a race with the AI set to very hard, but no where near competitive for most here.
Not really sure where to go from here. I see the next race has been set so i'll see if i can improve there.

Also tried to start career last night and got super bored and frustrated immediately.
It takes so long to get used to the car and the circuits and try to sort out tuning changes that make the car competitive and then you get to the race and it's only two laps. I suppose you can change this to make them longer, but there is no greater reward for that. Only thing left for me to do would be to lower the AI level.... yuck.

Not sure i'll bother with career. Probably will just try to practice for these races, but if i'm consistently last i don't see me practising much lol.

Someone post their time times for the next race to give me a target.

Stick at it Karl and as Robert has said i'm sure you will figure it out. I tended to be around the 2:10 mark there which is still a mile off those 2:04's that Chris and Boothy were hitting. @Robert Waddell you were around the 2:09 mark from what I remember?

One thing though that surprises me is that 2:14 got you third against 'Very Hard' AI I currently stick to racing just 'Hard' AI and the top few of those are still tough to beat for me although I don't think I have done an actual quali session against them yet. How did you get on in the actual race against them?

 

[Peter Hooper]

Strange how some A.I. were ghosting and others were not. I do know if they corner cut, they ghost. Also there is some speculation that they ghost if you are lapped or they are lapped, but I can't confirm this, and it does not seem to be the case from the video.

In fact, @ 15:15 I have an epic battle (which I lose) with Mr. Russo.

I'll have to watch this later as already at work and can't really watch these here . The ghosting issue is a strange one but there must be some reason for it.. i'll put a post up on CM forum to see if others know.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I got up this morning and had another go.. I had selected the wrong one yesterday.. it looked the same apart from the little twisty addon at the bottom right .

I love this one (then again I am loving them all at the moment lol). I didn't do any actual practice session but just jumped straight into a few 3 lap races to get my bearings. Best of 1:33.960 but with plenty of room to improve as I was slowed by the AI at times. I loved the competitiveness of the AI, leave a gap and they go for it but I didn't find anything in them that I would be unhappy with from any driver either computer or human . Did you find them any better here so far Karl?

That first corner is quite tough to get right and not lose time. I initially was tending to drop a gear too much at some corners and thats been a common theme for me at each circuit I think and suspect that may also be the problem you are having Karl. Once I stayed in a higher gear for some of those corners my times improved dramatically. First laps were about the 1:36 mark and the race time was over 5 minutes but I dropped over ten seconds from that time by the end of my 4th race.

I am sliding the car a bit too much as well and thats obviously losing me time in certain corners but boy is it fun when you drive like that .

The tuning was definitely a big advantage for me here... First race I went with the untuned car but then I tweaked a few of the settings and it did make a significant difference (more so than Washington I found) I know now after a couple of tuned laps that theres a few things I could adjust to improve my time still further. Thats good for offline but bad for for me online as my Mini is not tuneable and not likely to be either.

I opened the diff about 3 clicks, less downforce (-30 I think), longer gears by just a couple of clicks and stiffened both front and rear suspension by 3 or 4 clicks. LIke I say not much of a change but the difference was very noticeable.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I did have a quick go at trying out the tuning at this circuit and although I didn't gain much in the way of time (my own limitations at this track I feel as I was still not confident at certain corners) I didn't lose any gears so there is a definitely advantage with the tuning which is as it should be otherwise whats the point of having it in the game.

 

[Rob]

DC is the kind of track that is hard to get to grips with for die hard F1 guys. Certain parts of it you really have to treat like an oval with corners. The wide sections, especially that series of lefts it really just a big oval. And some parts reminded me of Pocono. Karl would have beaten me in that second race but for a few mistakes, kind of like what I go through in F1. I can lay a fast lap down but consistency is an issue. I suspect when we get to the true road courses, things will tighten up. But, as you know, I think challenging yourself outside your comfort zone is healthy.

No question tuning makes a difference to me. The downforce alone gains you about 5mph down the straights and opening the diff and upping the springs get me at least a second. The gears to are critical to your shifting points and each track's characteristics. And with this kind of series, I don't think a "baseline" tune will cut it because the cars change too...so they may react differently just as the track changes. For instance, a loose car around D.C. may be an advantage, but around a traditional road course, I'm not so sure. And according to the game, tighter springs add "stability" in the corners. But I could see where a closed Diff night get you more bite on exit, although I prefer more traction in the middle of the turn so I tend to open it up and lower the gears.

 

[Rob]

I think if you exaggerate those settings and play with them (since you can get to 25% increments pretty quickly) you will have a mighty fun and fast ride. You are right about where I am, but sometimes I can get into the 1:32s.
Let me know when you will be on and we can level your MINI up in no time. Also there is no danger to create a race with a MINI and see if someone joins. Make them one lappers. And you will also level up fast.

 

[Matthew Booth]

Setup - putting it here since can't save it

-50,-30,-80,+20/+30/+70

 

[Peter Hooper]

No question tuning makes a difference to me. The downforce alone gains you about 5mph down the straights and opening the diff and upping the springs get me at least a second. The gears to are critical to your shifting points and each track's characteristics. And with this kind of series, I don't think a "baseline" tune will cut it because the cars change too...so they may react differently just as the track changes. For instance, a loose car around D.C. may be an advantage, but around a traditional road course, I'm not so sure. And according to the game, tighter springs add "stability" in the corners. But I could see where a closed Diff night get you more bite on exit, although I prefer more traction in the middle of the turn so I tend to open it up and lower the gears.

I had no problem with consistency.. I was able to do lap after lap within half a second of each other but finding that extra bit of pace was where I struggled. I think where I was losing a bit of time is where you have those two tight looking right-handers following faster left-handers somewhere before the longest straight. I am sure I should have been taking those much faster than I was. Thinking about it I also am sure I lost time towards the end of the lap in that section after that lovely fast triple left… there’s a couple of lefts and two rights that I tended to be too cautious through for fear of drifting wide into the wall on the exits. At a push I would say a 2:07/8 is about what I should have been getting.

The gears definitely make a difference even if just to prevent that gear loss towards the end of a race. I am yet to really understand the nuances of the setups in this game having steered clear of them due to not having that capability online but my first impressions are that I would probably favour a stiffer car than I’ve been using with the untuned car.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I think if you exaggerate those settings and play with them (since you can get to 25% increments pretty quickly) you will have a mighty fun and fast ride. You are right about where I am, but sometimes I can get into the 1:32s.
Let me know when you will be on and we can level your MINI up in no time. Also there is no danger to create a race with a MINI and see if someone joins. Make them one lappers. And you will also level up fast.

In all honesty I hadn't intended getting on at all as wanted to get some track time at New Delhi but just got drawn into a quick GA session which I found myself still in an hour later lol.

Not sure when i'll next get the chance but maybe Friday or Saturday evening sometime if I manage to get some decent practice in for New Delhi either tonight or tomorrow.