Season 7 Division 3

I might not be able to make it as I'm still having dinner. The lounge is open though, so everyone can use that and Gary can organise the session. Hopefully I will be back.

I think I may have connection issue. I was in the room till qualy starts, then all i got is black screen with GT5 logo at right bottom corner. I dont know whether other poeple are ok. I hope I don't delay others.

sorry fellas.

was sitting in 5th mid-race after a pit stop. did a few more laps and got disconnected. )*()(*)(&()&_&^&*)(^&^$%^##$#$

Wheres the next race?

Was a good first round last night and the practice Id had with the Div 1 and 2 guys the previous week really helped me out I think. The key was looking after the tires and getting a decent pace throughout the longer stint and while it nearly badly backfired on me (spun twice on the second to last and last corners on the last lap OMG!) the buffer i had from 2 stopping was enough to keep ahead of Gary.

Its easy to say it was a boring race but the first stint i was pressured by Gary who was never really more than 1 second behind me so that was great fun. Got better conservation out of my starting Softs than i though i would and started thinking about changing my initial 3 stop strategy to a 2 stopper. Came out in first and just had i think the most consistent lapping ive yet done in this series, taking the Mediums to about 14 laps a stint. And (apart form the last two corners) made no mistakes or tankslappers which really halped me keep a lead over the chasers and make pretty good time. But no real moments to speak of, Cob said it was a lonely race for him too.

So yeah, pretty happy. Looking forward to this season. And kudos to Stu and the guys for coming up with the regs for this season and the car. The strategy choice has really given something to the season. For what its worth, I like the current qualy format but am happy to see which way the wind blows.

I had a crap race. It just wasnt my night

I was quietly tipping Dutch, he was pretty strong in a couple practice races I had with him. So congrats mate.
Edit 2 stop, wow nice I was nearly going to do a 4 stopper but changed mid race to 3.

And yea any div can practice with any div, not like you can only practice with ppl in your own div. The more ppl in practice the more fun I reckon.

I think qual worked perfect too.

Yeah, if I hadnt done the practice beforehand i probably would have been on a 4-5 stopper, but after my disastrous Tamora season I know there is always room for changing ones driving style to suit the situation (of course it helps that the camaro is a lot easier to drive than the Tamora IMO). Taking care of the softs may be key to this season, I'm just gonna start channelling Perez.

Well there were a few teething problems last night.

Unfortunately moon couldn't make it, but left a room open for us, which everybody joined and didn't seem to have any issues.

Problems started when I reset the track for qualifying. Whatever happened to Dori_kid broke the room unfortunately, so I had to start another, meaning lots of hurried friend requests and messaging. Thanks to 'brew for helping chase up Dan when I couldn't FR him.

Everyone made it back in except Dori_kid, so we started about 30 minutes late.

Congrats Dutchy, nice race. Good consistent pace, coupled with a great strategy, although you tried your hardest to give it away on the last lap there! I had a couple of offs which probably cost me about 12 seconds, so it would have been a very interesting finish if I had of kept it on the black stuff.

Div. 3 results with fastest laps:

1 GTP_Dutch 1:11.493
2 garyw61 1:11.417
3 CobMcCool 1:11.281
4 disturboed 1:11.629
5 mmm_homebrew 1:11.455
6 xsirdave 1:13.928
7 jas003 1:14.446
8 daninline6 1:14.197
9 Rumbleshorts 1:15.905
10 Pricey_777 1:14.523
DF stevisa 1:11.789
DS Dori_kid -
DS RBRacing -

Hey Guys, After it was decided to go to another room (I think it was garys) I could not get into any of the players lounges as there was no small yellow circle beside the lounge symbol. So therefore thats why I didn't race last night. I still could get into 3vils room but nobody went back it except Dori. I thought that 3vil was the Div 3 room host so why wasn't it held in his room??

Cheers!! RBR

Apologies RBR, did you send me a FR? I didn't get one.

The reason we went to another room was because evil's was 'broken'. Dori_kid never actually left the room, and whatever happened to him meant evil's lounge was buggered.

I am the backup host for div 3 (garyw61), so I started a new room. I will send you a FR tonight so that if evil can't make it again you can join my lounge.

Looks like Div3 might be a race in two halves. Top 5 best lap within 0.5secs, then daylight (2+secs), then the rest.

Yeah, good race last night if a bit lonely for me but did have some interesting moments rounding up some of the back markers, very happy with third place and fastest lap was some consolation after I stuffed up in the pits (and not for the first time) and ended up doing three stints on mediums and just one on soft tyres but I think I probably would have finished in the same place anyway, wasn't too sure of the pace not knowing what others had qualified on but was happy with fifth on mediums but had to watch Dutchy and Gary and a couple of others drive away on softs but managed to get into third and stay there regardless of my woeful tyre choices in the pits, Congrats to Dutch and Gary and will have to see how I go at Tokyo as I don't think I've actually driven that track before.

Cheers

Hey gary, thanks for clearing that up. I did send you a FR about 2 weeks ago and I noticed its still to be confirmed on my listing. I did try to get into the room via other Div 3 entrants but to no avail. Will check it out again later. Looking forward to next time I can join in.

Cheers!! RBR

Thanks RBR, found your FR last night when I tried to FR you. Not sure why it didn't come up in my messages, so sorry about that mate.

Yeah main problem with the room was that moon wasn't there, so we couldn't kick Dori_kid (who had locked up the room). This is why I had to create a new room.

Apologies again mate, hopefully all will go well this Sunday.

It was an interesting night for sure, but a sign i think of a good season of racing to come.

Qualified second, just couldn't quite get the extra 2 tenths needed to find pole, but I kept ducking in the pits every 2 laps for new boots to have another blast, whilst waiting for everyone to rejoin.

Come the start, and I reckoned I could drag Dutchy off the line and having the inside line might have been able to take him, but I jumped the start microscopically and got a .3 or .4 second penalty which was enough for everyone behind me to get right on my bumper and after the corner i was in 3rd. Stayed there for a few laps and had a couple of off track excursions but didn't spin (amazingly), lost another spot. Then I had two major spins in 2 laps which pretty much wrecked my tyres. It was only lap 6 I think, and the plan to go soft-medium-soft-soft wasn't looking good, especially with my shocking tyre wear (I REALLY have to work on this).

Coming around the last corner I made the decision to change my strategy so I didn't lose too much time having to baby tyres that might have lasted 2 more laps for 5 or 6. I pitted earlier than everyone, chucked on the meds, and came out in 7th.

I stayed midpack for most of the race, i moved up into 3rd position at one point due to passing people in the pits, but they would eventually pass me again when I pitted. My 3rd stint was again on the meds to try and get a few extra laps out of them, so I could finish on the softs. By this time I was lapped (had gone off a couple of times in the meantime) by Dutch. When I got on my second set of Mediums I managed to catch him and unlap myself, but he of course passed me soon after when I pitted for the last time.

I was now in 5th spot, trying to work out if I could catch homebrew or not. I managed to pass him in the pits after we had a few good passes on each other on the track. I resigned to the fact I was going to finish a lap down, and so pushed my softs harder as I thought, well I've got one less lap to race. I was catching Dutchy though, who was cruising in front. Imagine my surprise coming around the final bend of the last lap (my lap 37), to see a plume of smoke enveloping a blue car!! YEehar, I got the "lucky dog" pass and was back on the lead lap. So then I had to get a whole lap out of these tyres which were almost non-existant. Spun 2 times i think in one lap, which of course made it even harder to get around, but I did, so happy with 4th to start with.

Really have to work on how I get more life out of the tyres, as the pace is there.

Gratz to Dutch, Gary & Cob.

I'm curious if it's possible to post (or send via psn) the replay for the race? Not sure if this is possible but it would be great to review it and learn from the pros? Mayeb there is a way to save it after the race...I couldn't figure it out.

Also, anyone know if body damage lasts beyond pit stops? Sometimes my car seems to run really bad even with good tyres so wondering if those bangs early on catch up with you until you make 'rigid' again in tuneup?