Band of Others GT Sprint League Schedule - 2023, Season 3

[Kenadian]

Band of Others GT Sprint League is now live!

Although last Season saw a number of improvements to AI, additional tweaking is still required (and may always be).

Areas of focus on AI as follows:

• Additional skill tweaking required to lower end of field to make AI drive more competently.
• Additional optimism tweaking to offset speed gained in skill adjustments.
• Aggression tweaking to limit AI dive-bombing into a corner occupied by a human/ai.

Band of Others GT Sprint League Schedule will follow iRacings schedule except on weeks running tracks with low popularity.

1. Week 1 (2023-06-16) - Lime Rock Park - Grand Prix. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
2. Week 2 (2023-06-23) - Fuji International Speedway - No Chicane. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
3. Week 3 (2023-06-30) - Daytona International Speedway - Road Course. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
4. Week 4 (2023-07-07) - MotorLand Aragón - Grand Prix. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
5. Week 5 (2023-07-14) - Virginia International Raceway - Full Course. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
6. Week 6 (2023-07-21) - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - Endurance. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
7. Week 7 (2023-07-28) - Circuit Zolder - Grand Prix. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
8. Week 8 (2023-08-04) - Road Atlanta - Full Course. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
9. Week 9 (2023-08-11) - Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya - Historic. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
10. Week 10 (2023-08-18) - Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans - 24 Heures du Mans. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
11. Week 11 (2023-08-25) - Phillip Island Circuit. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
12. Week 12 (2023-09-01) - Mount Panorama Circuit. Session 1*: 5 PM EST, Session 2**: 7 PM EST
13. Week 13 - League drop-week

Given participation results are published via iRacing's League environment (as opposed to single race sessions) it's crucial all Drivers are registered in the League.

Should you wish to join in the fun, go to Leagues/Find a League and type Band of Others or 9396 (our League ID) and apply.

League Sessions consist of the following:

1. 2hr Session:
   • 50 minute Practice
   • 10 minute Open Qualify
   • 60 minute Race
2. AI grid of 29 vehicles
3. Fixed Vehicle Setups
4. Pit for Tires and Fuel - Pit window 25 - 35 minute mark
5. Three fast repairs

Currently we're running two sessions weekly, Friday nights at 5 PM and 7 PM EST.

Week 13 reserved for testing and should be considered a drop week.

Drivers should all be in Discord during the event. Not only is it good for race comms but also part of the fun of being in a Community Racing League.

Hope to see you all there

* Session 1 reserved for AI Testing as settings don't always translate well on some tracks.
** Session 2 reserved for League "official" races.
- Potential track substitution.

 

[Kenadian]

Hello all, I can't make it Friday as I'm now needed at work.

Is anyone able to take the reigns this week or are we calling it a miss?

Apologies for the late notice, I just found out myself.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I will also be at work. Trying to not pick-up OT on Friday's, but this is covering for someone, not just regular OT.

 

[Kenadian]

Hey all, apologies but I'll be away this Friday and possibly the next.

I've one R&D job of three completed for a major OEM Customer and have to get all done asap. All are sent to a Lab for lifetime, age-accelerated, testing.

Is there anyone who can step in during this absence?

 

[Deb]

Hey all, apologies but I'll be away this Friday and possibly the next.

I've one R&D job of three completed for a major OEM Customer and have to get all done asap. All are sent to a Lab for lifetime, age-accelerated, testing.

Is there anyone who can step in during this absence?

 

[Deb]

In a weird way, I was looking forward to Daytona

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I should be around this Friday to host. Having hardware issues at the moment, but I'd be less worried about failures in a hosted session than in a public one.

 

[Kenadian]

Thanks @Skid_Marc_, much appreciated!

The AI Collection is here, just change skill slider in session setup to 55 -85 to override.

Hopefully the latest tweaks reduce AI top speed (it should for the lower 2/3 of the field).

I'd still expect the AI to park when navigating the bus stop, not sure if I can do anything about it?

Lastly, aggression has been tweaked to discourage AI divebombing. This will affect all to a slightly lessening degree as you get closer to the front of the field.

Essentially:

• Slow AI: Lift and coast behavior, slower to get on throttle, less optimized racing line, less aggressive.
• Fast AI: Late braking, early on throttle, optimized racing line, aggressive.

A quick note on Human Driving behavior; protect your line when entering corners if you've an AI within 4 - 6 car lengths. If you don't protect your line opting instead for late apex, you're risking being turned by AI divebombing.

As far as I can tell, there's no fix for the behavior at present.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

We need to have a conversation about Miguel Ramos... maybe a welfare check? an intervention? a hug?

 

[Skid_Marc_]

In all seriousness...
wrecks in the first race: Noel x3, James Colado x3, Miguel Ramos x8000...

wrecks in the second race:

 

[Deb]

We need to have a conversation about Miguel Ramos... maybe a welfare check? an intervention? a hug?

LMAO!!!!I have to wonder what in the coding would allow that ??? And he didn't do that in the second race, just so weird!!!!

 

[Kenadian]

I've an opportunity to work again this Friday but won't if there's people interested in running League.

Given few likely own MotorLand Aragón - Grand Prix, we'll be running Gilleeez Villenuevveeeh.

Is anyone planning on being here?

 

[Skid_Marc_]

Yeah, I'll be there. Aragon is a really nice track. I can't spend other people's money, but I think it's a fantastic track and worth it if you're looking to pick up a track.

 

[Deb]

I bought Aragon already because I thought we were running it. I would rather race it if other people own it. I will say, it is quite a challenging track!!! I can see record off tracks here :/

 

[Kenadian]

Well, I guess I'm buying the track then dammit.

What other of the new tracks do you recommend purchase?

 

[Deb]

Well, I did a practice session with AI and I set the temperature at 78 degrees. They are still very fast with best times down in the 1:56s, which is better than the times the streamers set, which was around in the high 1:57s from what I saw on the track guide videos. I'm lucky if I get in the 2:02s. And there are tons of ways to easily get off tracks, so I can see this as being a very challenging race, all of us being new to the track.

 

[Kenadian]

Hey all, somethings come up and I cannot make it Friday, apologies.

In the interests of transparency, I've likely lost my ability to be present and accounted for beyond 1 - 2 Fridays/month the remainder of the year.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I got'chu.

 

[Deb]

Hey all, somethings come up and I cannot make it Friday, apologies.

In the interests of transparency, I've likely lost my ability to be present and accounted for beyond 1 - 2 Fridays/month the remainder of the year.

That's too bad Make it as often as you can!!!!

 

[Noodleguitar]

Since we were at Zolder, Marc brought up a memorable moment from quite a while ago. Thought I'd share the clip

✂️ First recorded B2O panic event

26 seconds · Clipped by 1forgiven2 · Original video "iRacing - V8 Supercars League Race at Zolder Alternate - Chatty Cathy's" by Kenadian

youtube.com