It could have been worse = ACC League Racing - Lifes up's and down's

[Deetz]

With the Covid situation, I managed to entice my brother back into Sim Racing (Yey), and his chosen poison is Assetto Corsa Competizione, so I've been playing this sim with him over the last couple of months.

My favority poison remains Assetto Corsa, but if you like GT3 (& Now GT4) racing, it's really very very good.

So my brother purchased some setup's off Coach Dave of the Driver Academy for his favourite car the Porsche, which used to be my favority as well, but I've gone for pastures new. Now (well ok, maybe before as well) the young upstart (He's a year younger than me)  is regularly 1/3 of second quicker than me on a hot lap (NOT ALLOWED).
I'd recently started to use the Bently, and decided to stick with it, and purchased some setups for it from the Driver Academy as well. (Smaks of desperation setting in I know. My AC setup tweaks only go so far in ACC.)

Then a couple of weeks ago email came though from Coach Dave with a new league he is involved in / promoting, The Sim Grid. I really wanted to enter the Endurance Championship, but you need 3 drivers, and we were a driver short. (Man, I absolutely loved those 1 hour races we use to run on Live for Speed. Not quite Endurance, but for the time not far off, and manageble on a week night.) I asked the usual guys who run regularly here (AC) but no one was interested. (yes I should have posted here asking if anyone fancied it, and sorry Wayne, I did mean to ask you....oops)

So we both entered the Sprint Championship.

After the seeding process, we both managed to get into split 2 (my brother about 10 places ahead of me Grrr) but I was very pleased to A. Not get in the top split, and B. to do so well/

And yesterday was the 1st round, Zolder. Two 30 minute races.

**Jump head a paragraph, if you with to avaoid tails of Woe**
The Sat before the race, I'd managed 1.28.8 to 1.29.1 lap times, but was over braking a little, and "tweaked" the load cell adjustment on my brake peddal, then promptly lost .4 to.5 sec a lap (EFFING DISASTER). Finally the day before the race I was fairly sure I'd (FINALLY) fixed the issue, but wasn't completely sure.

Some come race day, 1st Qually 1.28.7 (OMG where did that come from). But holy moly, this field was is so competative, 1 tenth would have seen me 4 or 5 places up. 17th position on the grid of 30.
Race start good, then oops punted someone at the first chicane as group ahead went stupid multiple cars abreast brake to stand still ahead. (10 sec penalty came later) then I was having a good dice with drivers around holding my own in 15th when someone else's issue became mine. Crunch into stoppped car, oh dear, that's mine pretty broken, so finished in 22nd place. (24th After Penalties were applied) :sad:

OK, refresh, race 2 quallifying....wow, the track is fast, a 1:28:4 new PB by a mile.......oh, 17th AGAIN.
Race start good, made up some places at turn 1-2, lost them again at turn 4-5 (doh), when.......BLOOMING HECK my pedals decide that 70% throttle is the new 100% thottle. Stop safely, unplug pedals, re-plug, off we go again in 21st place. Lonely race to the end.  (oooo 19th after penalties were applied) Decent lap times though. (NO CONSOLATION).


So, reslts after round one, bother position 8th, me position 22nd (Bugger).

Deetz.


So should I continue my tales of woe (& maybe of joy to come), or just shut up, let me know what you think.

It just seemed the racing section was a little bare of posts other that Seany's weekly update of the AC Combo, and I'd try to stir up some posting action.
Catch you all on track. :thumbsup:

[sulky_uk]

good to see you are still racing, i am in the process of running a team in f1 2020, which is actually good fun, being the driver and the owner. But please continue with the write ups from your new found race series sounds like you are having fun, even in 21st place ;-)

[BrotherTobious]

Great Post mate keep them coming

[Chaosphere]

Absolutely keep them coming, always fun to read stuff like this from community members, imo. I just picked up a wheel and stick from Smite, hoping to get into some racing myself soon too, maybe see you online down the road.

[Seany]

Yeah, interesting to hear the tales of league racing, so keep the reports coming Deetzie.

Unlucky with the event, but hey, next one can only go better!  So typical for the sim hardware (hmm or is that just computers in general) to act up right when ya need it for some thing important :taz:

You never told me you sold your soul to buy a setup! Times must be desperate .  Seriously though, that does show how much more depth / nuance / testing there must to creating nice setups for ACC vs AC?  Given that the cars are all in the same class it would be easy to presume that setup creation would be easier than AC (which has wildly varying types of cars, as we know).  Interesting stuff.

[Deetz]

On the setup front, I gues mostly because the GT3 cars depend so much on aero, the setup tweaks I've learnt from AC dont really work.
Well they sorta do, but only up to a certain point. I guess it's also a confidence thing as well, I'm not sure if the changes are working as expected, so haven't really fiddled as mucha as should.

For example I raised the rear of the Bently, and generally liked what I felt, but the higher you go, the less effective the ground effects are, so I didn't want to go too high. Then I get the purchased setups, and the rear ride height change is 4 times the change I was trying, but had some extra rear wing to compensate.

I've just been racing some GT4, and they resopnd much more like I expect setup changes to, especilly in comparison to the GT3's.

Chaoshere if you like AC, then pop in to the dMr server anytime, Mon is generally conidered race night, Fidays, and odd Sundays praccy for race night. 8:15 to 9:45 ish generally.
Divers of all levels are usually about. Depending on the combo chosen, the server could be regularly occupied at other times (often when stock content is chosen, but you never can tell).
We'll always attempt he help if we can. Hope to see you on track soon.

If ACC is your poison, give me a PM, and we can see about popping on somewhere at an arranged time, or for a meet on discord.
 Iv'e got most racing sims (excluding iRacing, I'm not paying that.), any questions feel free to ask. Myself (or any of the racing members) will always help however we can. At best some helpfull advice will sort an issue, at worst we won't make things worse... hopefully.:narnar:

[OldBloke]

Great Post mate keep them coming

Wot 'e said :thumb:

Really enjoyed the post, Deetzie so do keep 'em coming please.

[Deetz]

So, Sulky, I have to ask because it frankly drives me insane. I have f1 2019 rather than the latest, but tell me...

Is it possible to STOP all those cut scenes playing over and aver and over again. I had to stop playing because they were just driving me insane.
Me...mm I fancy some F1, i'll pop it on for a quick few laps....arrgghh, it's been 10 minutes and havent got on track yet.:ranting2:

I prefer my racing games a little more hardcore that the F1 series, but still enjoy a few laps every now and then.

:racing:

[Neys]

Yeah please keep them coming I like that. Just a few things which were sticking in my mind:

... and purchased some setups for it from the Driver Academy as well. (Smaks of desperation setting in I know. My AC setup tweaks only go so far in ACC.)

Unbelievable! I guess the purchased set is a little understeery for your taste?

(Man, I absolutely loved those 1 hour races we use to run on Live for Speed. Not quite Endurance, but for the time not far off, and manageble on a week night.)

Oh yeah me too. Such a pity that these times are gone.

Good luck for the next races!

[Deetz]

The Sim Grid Pro Sprint Cup - Round 2 - Races 3 & 4 Misano

After the last race pedal issue. I'll admit it, I completedly over reacted.
'Hello, Mr Heusinkveld, please send me some of of your 'Sprint' pedals please. That'll be how much....ok, go ahead'

They arrived, I added to my rig, I fiddled and adjusted, had a race, swore a bit, adjust etc. worked out a heel tray, swore a bit more, in the end decided, 'sod it' heel plate from my old Fanatec Mk2 pedals, drilled and fitted.

The a week, of over braking, under braking, tweaking, MORE sodding over braking (repeat to what feels like endless overbraking) before I started to get some consistancy. Finally some Assetto Corsa racing with the dMr guys had some proper consistancy appearing. (Phew)

All this time I'm doing the 10 laps practice daily, sometimes twice daily, trying to find some lap time. Not always helped by my brother going (early on) 'I can get a 1:34:20, dunno how good that is' (Not bad at all it turns out. Displayed best time in game is a 1:33:2 or so by Aliens). Blooming heck I'm doing 1:35:60 (and struggling for that). A few days later, and I can hit a 1:34.6 but with little consistancy.

Fortuitusly I'm watching a Neils Heusinkveld video on his impressions on ACC. (This release has fantastic timing for me) In the vid he states something which I had noticed, but not really paid too much attention to. 'With low traction control settings, when the rear is sliding, the car does not accelerate' mmmmmm full ponder mode. As Seany and Neys know, I like the car sliding at the rear a little coming out of corners, to get some extra rotation. Around Misano, the rear is sliding way too much... mmmm this is obviously loosing time.

OK, lets try some setup tweaks (to the Driver Academy set) lower the rear a couple of clicks, increase the rear anti roll bar to compensate. Now I have a car that is more neutral, but still as on the nose as I like, but deosn't side the rear everywhere. (ta daa, majic moment).

2nd or so practice after the changes, finially starting to find some good lines, and times. Wow .3 out of that turn .2 there, it all addsd up, holy moly. 1:33.8 (Cough invalidated lap) and two 1:33:9 valid, who hoo. (ring brother to share the moment, dance with joy etc.)

Now every time I practice, I'm getting low 1:34's consistently, with the odd high 1:33. This while emulating the race session seetings as much as possible from the practice server, but in Hotlap mode, almost no fuel, tyres that reset very lap. Every session I do quick lap times, and consistently. FANTASTIC.

A little spanner in the works....two 30 min races, one night race 11pm, and one late evening 8pm. For the night race though, the practice server has rain about half the time! Bugger, better practice some of that. Well 1:45.5 is about the best I can manage in the wet, which seem reasonable competative. Right, fingers crossed for race day.

Race 1 Qually (15 minutes, 30 cars)
Dry, thank gawd for that. but 15min isn't long, and 30 cars can get congested, and it's slippery. After my first run I'm no where, over braking again, 23rd of 26 runners, better get my act together, run two, ok 1.2 sec faster, and then some more, finially a decent lap, 1:34.3 9th place, who hoo. Starting ahead of my brother in 11th.

Race 1 (30 min)
Ok start, car behind sneaks past, two cars spin ahed, :-) 8th place. Some nice consistent laps, basically holding station, someone ahead drops away I don't see where, but 7th is excellent. On a good lap catching those ahead, bad lap slipping just a little, and I'm just gapping the car behind.
At about half distance, I can feel the tyres going off a little, but even so, I'm easing up to the guys ahead. With about 10 min to go, the car in gets ahead into 5th looses a position, and I'm imediately on the overtaken car, he is all over the place, a mistake and I'm past, up to 6th. But the tyre grip is changing a lot and I'm stuggling to adjust, running wide at two corners in succession, and I'm down to 7th. (Calm, I can live with that after the last round.) I pull myself together, find some consistancy and I'm closing the gap again and applying pressure, but it's too late, race ends, P7. Oh yes, I like that.
My brother has a nightmare race, gets blocked by the cars spinning ahead on lap 1, turn 1, then has a nutter divebom and barge the way through, gets car damage. Then he gets a penalty, and finally ends up last. He takes a look at the replay, ok, he can see where he got the penalty (only 5 sec, he grudgingly accepts, blood was up after being barged) But he'll make a post race appeal about the barging divebom.

Race 2 Qually
Tracks faster than the last race, but a bit slimy feeling. 1st run a 1:34:5 not bad...11th. Out for my second run, find breaking points, get into the groove a bit, a 1:34.1 nice. 8th place. (That'll do nicely.)
This time I'm behind my brother (1:34:0) in 6th.

Race 2
I make a reasonable start, a bit more jokkying, and another spin ahead, thankfully I sneak though ok, I'm behind my brother onto the first shorter straight, and get a good run on him to be alongside into the next turn, but he stays ahead. A minor wobble on the next corner, which leads onto the next bigger straight allows Mr aggressive (the Merc who beat me in the 1st race) to sneak up the alongside, putting me on the outside into the next couple of turns. I should have just ducked in behind, but as I  try to hold onto the position, I loose onother place as another Bently sneaks by (bugger). So I'm in 7th (brother in 4th) I start running some nice consistant laps, concious of trying to drive a little more conservativly to keep the tyres in better condition for longer than in the previous race. I hear my brother swearing at the Merc driver, as he get's a number of love taps from behind.
I've now got a Ferrari beind, but slowly start to gap him. He must make a mistake and a Lexus gets past and is now behind. We then trundle around in a procession for a while, when Mr Agressive in the Merc two cars ahead makes a mistake, and the Bently in front gets past him, I also nearly get by, but his rejoin of the track forces me narrow into the next turn, and he keeps enough momentum and hold his position. Somewhere in the next few laps another car dissapears from in front, so thats 6th (he he he, yippee)
A few more laps, then the two cars ahead colide, (Merc and Bently) and thats 4th position (Yes...). Only 7 or 8 minutes to go, I concentrate on keeping consistant, and ahead of the Lexus. He now right behind afer we all slowed when the Merc / Bently collided. He has a 15 sec penalty, so I should beat him regardless of him getting past, but if he hits me, I'm still stuffed.

Now I'm creeping up on my brother ahead, and am quite close on the last lap when I have wiggle out of the slow turn leading onto the big straight. I can see the Lexus positioning to have a lunge into the slow complex ahead, so I protect the line into a hairpin, 3 corners to go. My brother ahead is consentrating on fuel, as another lap could potentially be bad, he glances at fuel gauge, and with this momentary distraction the rear end starts to go round, after a tank slapper, me and the Lexus sneak through, to much swearing by my brother, but I don't care, THAT'S A 3RD PLACE FINISH.

Wow, what a difference to the first round. :yahoo:

[BrotherTobious]

Wow

Great write up mate, love it keep them coming!!

[OldBloke]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading that, Deetzy :thumb:

[Deetz]

I'd have loved to be able to go back and fix the broken sentences, corrected the multiple spelling mistake and grammar etc.
 I should really have stuck though a word processor before posting. It could have waited a day, instead of posting knackered at 1am.

:crying:

[Seany]

Don't worry, it's grand!  

Very nice report...and a podium :yahoo:

Glad to hear you had a break through with the TC and how it was affecting your pace!

[Deetz]

For those interested. Video of the top split races.

Reound 1 Zolder:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbnvXhIkDLU

Reound 2 Misano:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alZHcJbHMoY

The top guys are simply Aliens.

Deetz