rFactor 2 Round 1 Surfers Paradise - Sun Jan 12, 2025

It's such a shame we had this connectivity issues. It could have been a really great race on this awesome track.. anyway, glad I got to know the track, I enjoyed every lap made in past weeks!

 

was another victim of the disconnect on lap 1, when I rejoined I was not able to adjust engine mode or brake balance as it said it was not allowed dunno if this was a bug or a restriction of rejoining, my FFB was also at 100% when I normally run it at 60% so it was more of a workout than I bargained for, then got punted by Gilles da'Silva into first chicane who seemed to miss his braking point, did not know my rear wing was gone going into turn 2 as a result so spun, unfortunately Robert Emerson was right behind me and unable to avoid my spin so we both had damage, it was so bad I could barely get back to the pits. Lost almost 4 minutes repairing the damage, engine almost overheated.

Unfortunately as I was coming up to the battle for 3rd and 4th to try to get a lap back, Mark Hightree ran a bit wide on the exit and slowed down trying to avoid the wall when I was right behind him, as I was not expecting him to slow in an acceleration zone I clipped the back of him which took off his rear ring and he spun out in the next corner, felt really bad even though it was almost impossible to avoid so did a drive through on the same lap.

From then on I was trying to get the gap down to Freddy hell with a 45 second lead which I knew was a tough ask with less than 30 mins to go, he had to do a splash at the end so was 6 seconds behind with 2 laps to go, used all my 40 seconds of push to pass I had left to catch him and challenged him into the 90 degree turn left after the second chicane which caused him to run wide and I was through.

Happy with 7th given the circumstances, allot of work to do both in the Teams and drivers championship to catch Kostas now but I love a challenge.

Given the number of disconnects I think we should have a rule that if 3 or more drivers disconnect in the first 2 laps we should restart the race for the benefit of all concerned, I remember Ken doing this once for a Peugeot 206 race if memory serves so its not without precedent.

This track seemed very heavy on the hardware, was getting frame drops all over the place, maybe the server was also having issues as a result and causing the disconnect who knows.

 

I also disconnected on lap 1, was about to call it a day when I thought I'd re-join to see if it was just me. But, to my surprise I saw the race button active and exited pits in 9th! Thought great, but hang on, I appear to have some damage or flat spot as vibration on straights was bonkers. Had to pit again for tyres, but no more disconnects.

Had great fun after that and I must say the track looked fantastic, well worth buying. My race, from 11th was ok, steady and no incidents for the most part, had to do some crazy fuel saving for a few laps to avoid pitting about 20 minutes to the end which worked out great, until about 5 mins to the end when I was in 5th and I had a brake lock up and a very slow punt into the wall, lost the front wing, wrongly decided to keep going with a few minutes left, but then pitted again and finished 6th.

I enjoyed it, even with the issues. Grats podium, and survivors, thanks admin and for the broadcast @Rob Milliken ( I understand why you were confused on the DNFs )

p.s. In terms of server issues, I had no lag or any other problems apart from the 1 disconnect

 

I first thought there was a huge crash in front, because the timing for the discos was really weird. Normally thats more of a thing after the session changed, or am I wrong?
Still the frustration is understandable, that are the things nobody needs.

Regarding my race, going from 17th to 6th right after the start was weird. I was then fighting with Ed who let me go, caught up to Randy and passed him. So now I was in 4th and after John had his first stop, there was a bit of a battle. Although it seemed not that of a deal, because I was on a different strategy. I wanted to do a one stop on the alternates, so I avoided to use P2P or overuse my tyres. That said, it escalated a bit because John struggled a lot on his hard tyres and if there is a gap...
Unfortunately, I missed the the apex of turn six and hit the outside wall. Not much damage but I lost 10 seconds because I repaired the damage in the pits. In hindsight, that ruined my strategy because John rejoined after his second stop just in front of me. I tried to stay with him, but my old softs faded away. In the end, I aborted my one stop for three fast laps on new tyres.

I agree, very challeneging track with a feisty car. It was fun but I think this was one of the hardest race I ever drove. The podium feels a bit gifted, five races left to deserve it. See you there.