FM5 VM Super Taikyu Series 1

I said from the get-go that Road America was gonna be one of my strongest tracks in this race...

I don't think I disappointed honestly.

I qualified on "Pole" in my Qualfying Lobby with a 2:22:943, used Dom's strategy to pit early(lap 4) and just ran 21 laps very strong, consistently and in the 2:22's(I beat my qualifying speed 9 times in 21 laps), got out ahead of Dom(who had a controller issue), TG Xessiv, AR Forbidden, Chelsea Blu UK(pit strategy) to come home 5th, I was catching RSR Elysium, but ended up coming about half a lap short.

Overall, I was incredibly happy with how I raced, gutted that I didn't race Dom for position, hopefully he gets his controller dilemma fixed before Race 4

my AWD was too slow, down in lobby 4, my worst performance thus far but Cataluña next which I think the AWD can pull it back in, see if I can get into that lobby 2 again, was in 3rd place on RA until the last corner on the second to last lap. Then my tires gave out and I ended up in a wall  luckily I didn't take much damage and managed to still get 6th

In case you haven't seen me bitching about it in the shoutbox already, here's what happened Sunday.

So, my PB on the LB was 2:22.2.  In qually I screwed the pooch and ran 2:22.7 instead.  Yipee, the middle of Lobby c.  My PB probably would have put me in lobby c anyway.  I got jumped at the start, but gained that spot back.  I almost took the next spot on lap 2, but couldn't hold it on the next turn.  I decided since the guy in front of me had his car bouncing all over the place I should pit early, so I jumped in and started pounding out hotlaps right away.

By about lap 6 I was humming okay but not really doing great.  It should have been enough to gain me a spot or two anyway, but then my controller disconnected and I ended up parked in the grass for about 30 seconds.  By the time I got rolling again everyone was gone.  I managed to put in 2:22 flat a couple time in the race, which was nearly the best time in the lobby, but I was too far back to make up any spots.  

That's two weeks in a row I've been sent to the back for something out of my control, which is really getting frustrating.

ive made it a rule to put new fully charged batteries in before the race starts. ive seen mine jump from half charged to dead in a matter of minutes. so I figure fresh batteries should have enough juice for a race length.

and the 2 guys whos controller disconnected in my lobby, holy crap, I actually learnt some new curse words. they ran up a storm in ingame chat.

I think what is happening is that the vibration in the controller slowly works the pulg n play cord loose.  It only ever happens to me in FM5, and of course in Forza the controller is constantly rumbling.  I just have to remember to unplug it before every race and it should be fine.

Dominic Mako wrote:I think what is happening is that the vibration in the controller slowly works the pulg n play cord loose.  It only ever happens to me in FM5, and of course in Forza the controller is constantly rumbling.  I just have to remember to unplug it before every race and it should be fine.

I get a crappy whining noise through my headphones when I have the "plug n charge" lead in, so I just make sure the controller is charged for a bit before I unplug it. Because of the "reassign controller" (when you unplug it) faff, it's best not to do this mid race.

you guys tried without vibration on, I don't use it any any type of competitive gaming, cod 4 had a K/D of like 2.2 on there, was the first cod I played too and when I started I was terrible, I got given that tip by a guy who I used to play with and ive never turned back on any game.

Well this series is a weird one for me, im not normally in the last lobby but for the last 2 races i have been, beaten in 1 by consult and his dam grippy AWD  and then finishing 4th in RD America, i was better thena the guys ahead of me but lag jumping kept me behind a guy for about 5 laps, every time i got near him his car aws all over the track hitting barriers on the grass and it was either have a go and hope my race is over or wait till he pits, i went for points rather than a wreck and finished ahead of him in 4th place.

i thought i would be doing better in this series , not much better but better and im at a loss to know why i'm so slow,lol

D4ninho, if you want to do some practice racing, let me know. Still keeping the supra up to date with the tracks too if you want an equal field. As for the infamous race, just unlucky I missed qualifying...

In previous VM races I've done I have qualified in Lobbies 2/3, but these guys are seriously quick.

i struggle with practice races, i just cant get my head right for them, i know catalunya is gonna be a twisty little devil with one long straight so i think ill go for acceleration and go full aeor and hope it holds round the long turns,lol

thanks though consult, good to know the help is there if needed.

d4ninho wrote:i struggle with practice races, i just cant get my head right for them, i know catalunya is gonna be a twisty little devil with one long straight so i think ill go for acceleration and go full aeor and hope it holds round the long turns,lol

thanks though consult, good to know the help is there if needed.

What you driving D4n is it the Supra, I can try stick a tune on one for you if you like, I don't think full aero will help :p

Did some practice racing yesterday, got some low 2:02 times down, but think I still need to shave a couple more seconds of to be in with a chance of lobby 4...

the guys at the top are getting 1.58 dead, think im about 2 seconds off that with improvement so im hopefully looking at lobby 2 or 3, ill upload a tune consult if you want to try it out?

I'll give it a go. One idea I was toying with was gears, because it's a rolling start, you could in theory pull a long first gear and shorten the others. It'll stall on the line, but it'll mean first gear will do the job of second, squashing the others together to get some real torque from second and third at higher speed. I'll have to sit down with it one day...

I've actually been on long gears the last couple tracks, and will probably stay that way for the next round.  The Supra stays near peak hp from 6K RPM to redline, so you don't have to make the gear so short to stay in a decent power band.  I also shift right at redline or a hair over.  The only challenge is finding the right spot for 2nd gear so that you don't start too far below 6K RPM when you downshift there.

It can be quite hard in the RWD as when you start to red line if acceling out of a corner it can make you slide, you're probably better moving the gears a bit further apart in 2nd and 3rd for the slower corners, you wont have the rear end kicking out, Consult download my 22d build that's the one I used for RA, its pretty quick, your gear strategy helped it out a lot I just slightly tweaked it but it handles really well to say it doesn't have a lot of aero

Got myself a tune i like, well i know what the car is doing so i like it, lol, not ran a single lap at catalunya yet, was thinking of going full aero as there really is no need for top speed here apart from one straight the rest of the track seems to be a turn,lol

I lengthened my gearing for rd America and it was a lot better

At Cat i felt like my gearing from Rd America just wasn't working, so I made a few changes. With this tune I spend the majority of the lap in 2nd. I drop into 2nd at the hairpin and don't upshift again until I round the final turn. It hit redlline in 4th at the end of the straight. The 3rd gear is basically just a bridge between 2nd and 4th most of the time. After about 20 laps tonight I managed 1:59.7

Final Drive - 3.13
1st - 3.39
2nd - 1.93
3rd - 1.55
4th - 1.11
5th - who cares
6th - doesn't matter

if you redline your 4th gear for lap after lap you will have to pit for engine damage gaurenteed

d4ninho wrote:if you redline your 4th gear for lap after lap you will have to pit for engine damage gaurenteed

Ummm, no you won't. Maybe if you don't know how to shift. I almost always at least shift at redline, and usually a tad later than that. It depends on the power band for some cars, and I might shift earlier, but that's rare.

Well that wasn't too bad. Qualified poll in the last lobby, and started ok. Dropped to second because the guy was clearly faster than me and I was struggling to get into any groove. Then about lap 5 I hit the sticky sand on the fast exit before the hairpin, got hit as I pulled onto the tarmac and limped to the pits, although the car listed to the right I could still travel at near normal speed. Dropped to second to last, in front of the guy that had hit me tho. 
With a clear road in front I just treated it like hot lapping, 20 odd laps to go, I thought I wouldn't be a real contender. But when people pitted in front of me I was going past them, picking up places, the only exception being Alex Of Smeg, and he was in a league of his own. 
The last 8 laps I kept approaching second, then making some armature mistake, then approaching, etc. until the second to last lap he clipped the grass and his worn tires did the rest. 
So first, to ninth, and back up to second with no real overtaking. Pretty boring, but got the job done, just.

Pretty similar to me really, started 5th but was confident i could take the guys in front of me as i have raced them before and know they are better in qually than in a pack, my only real worry for the race was when alex smeg would catch me, luckily he caught me on the long straight and i simply let him go then followed him along for a couple of laps, happily keeping up till i stupidly braked too late on the first corner which meant he drove away and i never saw him again,lol

i could hear 2nd and 3rd talking about little mistakes they were making but sadly none had a really big one, the sods,lol, so i settled for 4th and when ridin sideways spun behind me it was pretty much a case of if i could keep concentration till the end.

Spa will be interesting, some good fast bits and some fast corners, gears and aero to be key here me thinks.....