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For those that are planning to race in April at Portimao…. (Event hasn’t been opened up beyond our shared community - yet - so this thread is intended to just be a general discussion for now…)
How’re you getting on?
I’ve not driven LMU since our June race last year - and aside from that race, I’ve never dabbled with car setup in LMU as I only did the fixed-setup Daily Races before that…
Without a regular practice server running, it’ll be very hard to judge where you are on performance, setup and other racing tips - hence this discussion…
So…. What kind of laptimes are we managing (under what fuel load/setup) for instance? Relative to the default AI, I’m precisely nowhere at the moment - plumb last in fact!
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Thanks for starting this thread, Myles. I've been starting a race weekend with Heavy real road in all sessions and using a full tank of fuel. After spending some time in all four cars I'm settling on the Ferrari but that's probably just my driving style. They are all excellent except I didn't gel well with the Aston Martin but I prefer mid/rear-engined GT cars. The Porsche is very stable, especially in the last corner, but after realising I was too slow braking with my left foot, I felt the character of the car didn't suit right foot braking. Something clicked between me and the Ferrari and right foot braking. I also really liked the Corvette C8R (unlike in rf2) and it was a close call between it and the Ferrari.
I have put several hours in and have accepted that the AI is way better than rfactor 2. I use an AI difficulty of 90% to get near the front of the timesheets, wheras it was 100% in rfactor2. The more I drive the more I appreciate how good the simulation is in LMU. There is so much depth and subtlety to how the tyres work so it takes longer to get speed and consistency.
Regarding setups I've just been trying the LMU and Coach Dave presets on each car - they take very different approaches. I get the impression Coach Dave setups are faster but require more skill. In the Ferrari I settled on the Coach Dave setup and have only adjusted brake bias where necessary.
On mediums I'm in the mid 1:46 and on softs mid 1:45
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Great!
I’ve managed to put an hour on the track this morning - first in the Aston and then in the Porsche. I was going to do the Ferrari next but my partners gym class was cancelled and she’s home an hour early!
I’ve settled on 90% AI too. It was on 93% yesterday and the difference seems quite significant!
I was running 50% tanks on softs - not sure what real-road setting is. I’ve managed 1:47.5s in both cars, both on Dave setups. I found the Aston really quite easy to drive - and possibly a good bet for a long stint. The Porsche moves around quite a lot more and seems quite keen to lock and flat spot the front tyres - but I haven’t really tried moving the brake bias backward yet.
For me, one feature that might decide which car I use is the dash design! The Porsche wheel dash is ‘in my face’ and requires an effort to focus on after looking down the road (my eyesight…). The shift lights are not particularly grabbing my attention.
The Aston feels further away and reasonably comfortable. The Ferrari has a fixed dash - from memory, a bit far away to read that clearly! Haven’t tried the Corvette yet.
I’m warming to LMU after such a long stint away though - the graphical performance is excellent compared to rf2 and it’s a wonder why ACC and AC Evo are such rubbish in VR given a similar-ish graphical richness and feel. I also like the extra layer of drama that having LMPx cars weaving around the GTEs brings….
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So I’d been running with Light real-road. I did some more testing after switching to Heavy. I can manage 1:46.4s in the Ferrari on a clean lap starting with half fuel. Close to that in the Porsche (a bit of rear brake bias helped/sort the lockups). Can’t really get close in the Corvette and haven’t tried the Aston again.
The Ferrari feels like probably the best package at the moment.
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More time spent in the rig!
I’ve tried and tried with the Porsche - even using CoPilot to give some setup ideas…
It’s nice to drive - but within one flying lap in the Ferrari (essentially with Dave settings), I’m half a second quicker. The Ferrari feels more rubbery and jelly like - but quick is quick….
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@Stu3284 - last time we raced, we did it on 2x fuel and that was enough to force a pitstop (I hope to get a chance to do an offline test race to confirm - but i bet Ed already has that information…..)
2x Tyres might be overkill. I’ve not yet tried Mediums and can’t recall what I used last time (the tyre model has probably changed since then anyway). My experience suggests that you’ll do well on Softs not to flat spot them or wreck them in a spin anyway at some point - so I think tyres will be self-policing anyway!
We can chat tonight but I suggest we plough ahead with the 12th (I really quite like having the LMP prototype AIs in the race to keep you on your toes!) and use any learnings from that for a follow up. I think Jonathan is looking forward to the race so wouldn’t want him to miss out.
