Race 5 - BARCELONA, SPAIN

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 4:30pm EDT, 9:30pm British






Turn 1 is really the only overtaking place at Catalunya, as it is a braking zone at the end of a long DRS straight. The inside and outside are just as difficult as each other for overtaking; if you can hold it around the outside of turn one, then you get the inside for turn two. The corners themselves make up a medium speed chicane - you brake rather late for turn one (Elf) and shift down to gear two, and turn two is almost full throttle as you try and gain as much exit speed as possible. Turn 3 (Renault) is a long, flat out (in some cars) right-hander that has a g-force of about four, and it leads onto a short straight before turn 4, the Repsol curve. Another right-hander, turn four is similar to Monza's Curva Parabolica - you brake and take an early apex (in third gear), before carrying lots of speed out of the exit. Turn 5 (Seat comes immediately after and is a slow left-hander taken in second gear which drops rapidly downhill towards the left kink of turn 6 which is ignored by F1 cars. Turns 7 and 8 make up a medium-speed, uphill, left-right chicane. Drivers brake and shift down to gear three, and must not run too wide as turn eight has a large kerb on its apex which could potentially damage cars' suspensions. Turn 9, Campsa Corner, is a very fast, sixth gear right-hander which is made incredibly difficult due to the fact that it is completely blind to the drivers. It is initially quite steep uphill but the exit is then downhill, making it blind, so it is quite easy to run wide onto the astroturf. The long back straight leads into turn 10 (La Caixa), a second-gear, left-hand hairpin, then turns 11 and 12, a left kink before a long, slow, third-gear right. The next section has been redesigned by German engineer Hermann Tilke to lower speeds onto the pit straight - which in turn increases overtaking opportunities and safety. Turn 13 is a tight, third gear right-hander and drivers have to quickly cross the circuit to take the racing line through the slow left-right chicane of turns 14 and 15, taken in second gear. Good traction is needed here as it determines speed down the pit straight. Turn 16 (New Holland) is a flat-out right-hander which takes you across the line.

Lettlemore's Hotlap w/ setup:


Olliekart's Track Guide w/ setup:

Does anyone else feel like the mapping is a bit different from Forza? Or is it just because the cars are lower, etc. The blind, uphill righthander (Campsa) comes to mind.

Yeh this ones right lol

OctoberDusk06 wrote:Does anyone else feel like the mapping is a bit different from Forza? Or is it just because the cars are lower, etc. The blind, uphill righthander (Campsa) comes to mind.

i refer you to my comment on the bahrain thread - "Barcelona is my least favourite track in an F1 car"! I love it in Forza though, and yes I agree it certainly is mapped differently.

I've had a problem with this track from F1 2002 on PC thru F1 2012 on Xbox 10 years of pain!!!

At least we get a week to run on it before the race. One of the few tracks where I might recognize some of the turns.

You two Englishmen sound like you have been there (but yet have different opinions on which one is mapped better...or Owen maybe you don't like it BECAUSE it's mapped better?) In any case, I am jealous. lol.
I went to Barcelona when I was 21 and doing a semester abroad in Heidelberg (then, West Germany). I was drunk one night in Las Ramblas (bad section) and got my money, passport, and Eurorail pass stolen after being mugged. But overall, it appeared as a stunningly beautiful city. I was NOT expecting that when I went there. And that's not just the architecture. The women were jaw dropping and everyone (but the muggers) was friendly and party minded.

And Harry...exactly! I am expecting a big push from the Forza regulars at this Circuit. Team Lotus better get its big boy britches on. And close behind are Hockenheim and Silverstone.

Lap times anyone?

My fastest is 1:23.388 but I keep improving slightly with the tune I'm working on.

Without assists, I'd say a 1:23 is pretty good. I was afraid of that. lol. However, I think pole will be around 1:21 probably, if Bronn, Sniper, Primo, and Luongo all qualify. Maybe lower.

OctoberDusk06 wrote:You two Englishmen sound like you have been there (but yet have different opinions on which one is mapped better...or Owen maybe you don't like it BECAUSE it's mapped better?) In any case, I am jealous. lol.
I went to Barcelona when I was 21 and doing a semester abroad in Heidelberg (then, West Germany). I was drunk one night in Las Ramblas (bad section) and got my money, passport, and Eurorail pass stolen after being mugged. But overall, it appeared as a stunningly beautiful city. I was NOT expecting that when I went there. And that's not just the architecture. The women were jaw dropping and everyone (but the muggers) was friendly and party minded.

The last race I saw at Catalunya circuit was when it was the old circuit (which I prefer!) but looking at a hot lap comparison with F12012 and a real lap I would definitely say that this one is mapped correctly.

OctoberDusk06 wrote:Without assists, I'd say a 1:23 is pretty good. I was afraid of that. lol. However, I think pole will be around 1:21 probably, if Bronn, Sniper, Primo, and Luongo all qualify. Maybe lower.

I'm in the 1.24's clean, 1.23's dirty but that was just one session in the Mercedes. Not been around this weekend

I know the Catalunya track from Shift 2. It was definitely my fav track. I spent countless hours just driving in circles trying for the extra 1/10sec... That being said, Shift 2 also modeled the track quite different than the F1 team has. Corners are NOT shaped how I feel they should be and my pretty little F1 car seems to go 4x'ing in the sand quite a bit. Hopefully the next week will remedy this, but we will see... No time to post yet, but hoping to get some practice laps in tonight.

I may be on there with you. I don't have any experience with the actual track and little with the track through the years. but F1 does seem to "smooth out" the corners" a bit, although it sounds like they may have gotten the basic layout right. When you tend to slide off if not smooth and clean, that tells me the difficulty at least approaches reality.

Yea. I set a 25.6 in practice, but only had a few laps to race. That was TT also. Race pace, and even qualy on line will be 1-2 secs. slower, but there is time to gain, as you say.

I'd be scared of Bronn. He set a 21.3 or so in an ON-LINE equal performance Lotus. That's worth about a 19.3 in TT. If he can make it through the race, he's got to be the benchmark I'm guessing, but we have some very good Forza drivers on here, and this is a Forza track.

Hopefully I'll have some company at the back of the grid and I get some action rather than being lapped!! I have a feeling this one's going to be painful for me LOL.

If the new guys in the McLarens come prepared, and Bronn gets his tech issues worked out, I too am pretty worried. It is a Forza track too. So, I'm less optimistic about my chances here, but we shall see.

I will most likly not make the race sunday

Sorry to hear Sniper. That's two down, I think. Chelsea is gone for another week or so. Still no A.I. unless more drop.

I should be there

I will be over taking there too

I'm planning on being there...!

Ran a 50% quick race against Legend this AM and got 15th...
Ran a 50% quick race against Legend this PM and got 1st.....

yeah, it was a slow day at work!...

Damn, if my math is correct, that equals a full race. The second being not only very fast, but very consistently fast. I'm glad at least one Lotus will be in the points barring no catastrophe.

Sniper WOULD be fast, especially here, but....

Wild card...Luongo. Knows track. Is British, lol (I think, despite the Canadian flag). Knows F1. Very consistent. Very clean. Passes like a stealth jet.

The new guys are Forza fast, no question. Let's see what they bring to F1.

For me, I can only get fast by zillions of laps and a bit of luck. So, I've got to go practice.

Remember, game time is set as usual this week.

I'll be there, and so will Sniper lol

I tried like hell to beat your TT time Owen, in the Lotus, but came up about .15 below it. Oh well, back to quick race. Every on line race I've done here it rains. Need to work on that too.

The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plane!

It doesn't rain in Spain lol

Chelsea, where are ya???