GT S4 R1 Review

After a 5 month break, the GT series is back in MCRO. This time however, instead of 6 teams with each of them using a unique car, there are only 3 unique cars in total, with 3 factory teams and 3 custom teams. This was done to make the series more balanced, since the previous GT series were really unbalanced and balancing 6 cars would be a difficult job, especially in the 200 mph range. With 2 pre-season testings done, it was time for the first official race on the Triple Box Circuit. This was also a one-off race for Vark, as one of the BMW factory team drivers was unable to join.

Quali

The start of the quali was pretty close, with Sot leading the first lap and other being really close behind. However, on lap 2 Sot crashed into a tree and dropped a few places down, meaning either Agg, Obli or Avith could get pole position, as they were close. Avith started leading into the 3rd and final lap and started with a decent gap, but a series of smaller mistakes made him lose the lead. The quali was really close until the end, with Obli winning only by a few meters. This is one of MCRO's closest qualis to date, next to one-lap qualis in S3 (specifically GT S3 R4 and F3 R3)

Race

Despite a bad qualifying session, Sot started well and quickly reached top 3. Syrz also went from P6 to P3 during the first lap. The top 4 was really close, but as soon as lap 2 started, Agg crashed into the bridge and it was now mostly a battle for P2 between Avith and Sot. Avith had a slightly more superior car and was leading, but Sot was really close. Meanwhile, the 2nd front-row starter, Lio, had glitched into the bridge and dropped down to last place, behind both BMWs of lonelsonic and Lexi.

Syrz had caught up to Sot and Avith and promoted himself to P2. Eventually, on lap 5 he took the lead from Avith after he had done a mistake. A few laps later, and Avith was coming close to the leader again, overtaking him on lap 10 after Syrz had spun out on the straight near the river. A few laps behind Lio overtook lonel, meaning that he wasn't last anymore.

Lap 14 and Avith was creating a bigger gap on Syrz, which he kept until Lap 17, when both of them have pitted. It only took 3 lap for Syrz to catch up and take the lead from Avith, again. Meanwhile, Vark was somehow doing an excellent job with the BMW, staying at P4, ahead of Obli and Agg, despite driving the slowest car on the grid. During lap 17, Disortion had retired from the race, after he wrote "WTF" in the chat and left the game, possibly due to frustration (but I'm not sure). Obli wasn't doing the greatest job either, even though he qualified on pole he was usually P6, behind Agg and was frustrated quite often.

After lap 30, Vark's hands were not in a good shape, and he started to fall behind, dropping to P5. Syrz was leading by some margin, leaving both Avith and Sot quite far behind. Also, Sot had overtaken Avith for P2. And during the closing laps, Vark's hands were in an even worse shape, as he dropped to P6, behind Obli.

The race ended with Syrz winning with an over 6 second gap, Sot being 2nd, over 15 seconds ahead of Avith in P3. Agg had managed to do a decent comeback, finishing P4. Despite a great quali, Obli's pace dropped down during the race, as he finished P5 after many struggles. Vark finished P6 after his hands were dead and Lio somehow finished P7, after nearly DNF'ing. Both BMWs of lonel and Lexi were last, finishing P9 and P8 respectively.

As some of you might've noticed during the race and the race replay, there was a viper on the track, racing with other cars. That was Egg, who was testing the Viper ACR to see if its competetive enough, and after only a few laps he concluded that it was indeed fast enough for GT. He also tried the Renault RS.01 during the race.

After the race, BMW drivers complained about the car and asked for change. Especially Egg, who wasn't even a driver asked for a change from BMW to Viper many times. As Mat wasn't really sure if either Viper or Renault were competetive he usually ignored him - as the Viper was sometimes as fast as the RSR, which would destroy the balance on some circuits and the Renault wasn't as good in terms of acceleration as other cars. Not to mention circuits were selected for the current GT grid. This doesn't rule out a car change, incase the BMW drivers don't find their pace in the 2nd race.

In terms of the championship, Mercedes was leading with a 6 point lead (25 pts) over McLaren (19 pts). Autobacs was 3rd, 14 points behind P2 and thanks to Vark, the BMW factory team is now P4. We'll see how both BMW teams and the championship contenders will do during the next race, so stay tuned!