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Welcome to the inaugural 'canon' season of Pacific Endurance Series, the region's top-flight GT championship. The series is divided up into two distinct classes of competitors: the Japanese factory-based GT Group 1 (or simply G1) category, and the internationally diverse Group 2 teams. The nine round championship tours the greatest circuits from Australia, South East Asia, and Japan, with a 1000 kilometer finale at the famed Fuji Speedway.
Within the canon, Pacific Endurance Series is intended to be an extension of the older All-Japan GT Championship (JGTC), and as a result, many of the real-world Super GT teams take up starring roles in PES' Group 1 category, as well as a select few legendary locals in Group 2. In stark contrast to the vast majority of series within the ASMF canon, Pacific Endurance Series will be using rFactor to simulate results. The races will be live broadcasted on the Racing Heart Twitch channel. As with RealRacingRoots' GT Super Series, the use of older cars is for visual reference only and does not represent the cars that would actually be used in the series.
(That, and nobody has made a good model for the Lexus GT500 race car yet. WHENPLZ)
New series information such as rules clarifications will be marked down in this color.
Rules
Driver Rankings
All drivers within Pacific Endurance Series are weighted according to Driver Ranking. There are four ranks - Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
Platinum drivers represent the top of the top, and include top drivers from FIA EC, GT Super Series, AR World Series, Indycar, Formula One, etc. Drivers must prove they belong here. Also, much like in GTSS' Independent's Trophy, Group 2 teams cannot hire drivers with this Rank at all.
Gold drivers are top drivers in their home region or factory drivers in lower tier series; these include many of Pacific Endurance Series' own Group 1 stalwarts, equivalent ranked GTSS and FIA EC drivers, and drivers from AR3.5, Formula 5000, and more.
Silver drivers typically are either "fast gentleman" or upcoming stars on the grid. Drivers completely new to the ASMF canon cannot be ranked higher than this without a really good explanation. These include F3 series winners, Indy Lights winners, and Touring Car specialists.
Bronze rank drivers are the rank-and-file of a sports car racing series, and it's no exception here. The whole gamut from washed up losers past their prime, F4 and Super Taikyu greenhorns, people with more money than talent or practice... yeaaaaaah. Needless to say, these drivers are not eligible for Group 1 duties.
Driver Ratings
The Driver Ratings have two main elements to them: what you see is the "abstract" element. Drivers are broken down into five stats, which are Speed, Consistency, Aggression, Smoothness, and Starts. Each of these five stats are measured on the "abstract scale" from 0 to 20.
The starting ratings for a driver's stats are dependent on what Driver Rank they are.
- Bronze drivers start with 6 in every stat
- Silver drivers start with 9 in every stat
- Gold drivers start with 12 in every stat
- Platinum drivers start with 15 in every stat
If you are submitting stats for someone that isn't a real-world driver or Ai Tsukimura or Shouta Sakai, you can adjust the "stat build" for each driver within +4 or -4 points of the starting ratings. The average "rating adjustment" across all five stats must be +1 or lower. For example, Ai's own stats look like this:
- Platinum Rank
- -2 Speed -> 13 Speed overall
- +3 Consistency -> 18 Consistency overall
- -4 Aggression -> 11 Aggression overall
- +4 Smoothness -> 19 Smoothness overall
- -1 Starts -> 14 Starts overall
Each of the stat points on the "abstract scale" is then translated into rFactor's "simulated values":
- Speed is handled via a driver pairing's 'talent file'. This value is measured from 0-100, but for PES, a driver with a 0/20 rating has 90 speed, and each point in Speed increases the setting by 0.5 points. The difference between the lowest rating and highest rating should be about 0.5 seconds per lap at Sugo, which is roughly an 85 second lap in Group 1.
- Consistency is also handled via a 'talent file'. As above, measured from 0-100, but in the talent file, it goes into the Composure value. The higher the value, the more time it takes for this driver to make a mistake, such as driving exceptionally slow or running wide. A driver with 0/20 Consistency starts at literally a Composure value of 0, and each point adds 5 to Composure.
- Aggression is another 'talent file' element. Like the other two above, it's measured from 0-100. Higher values increase overtaking attempts. A driver with 0/20 Aggression starts with a value of 40 aggression in their talent file, and each point adds 3 to talent Aggression.
- Smoothness is done by assigning each driver pairing their own tire files. I edit the AIWearRate parameter by a set % depending on their stat. Drivers with 0/20 Smoothness have 122% AIWearRate, and each point in Smoothness reduces AIWearRate by 2%. At 10/20 Smoothness, the wear rates go about the same duration as the fuel does.
- Starts is done by editing the tire files like with Smoothness. I edit the starting temperatures for each car's tires. The optimal temp is around 90 degrees Celsius. A driver with 0/20 Starts, uh, starts every new stint (including race starts) at 30 C, and each point in Starts adds another degree C to the starting temp for that driver.
Because you must assign two drivers per car, but driver changes aren't actually possible in rFactor, the stats are a balance between the drivers. Your starting driver has more weighting in the stat balance, though to surprise you, I'm not going to tell you what the exact % is.
Submit stats for your canon drivers HERE (click!)
Teams and Driver Pairings
General
Each car must have two drivers, and one driver must be designated the "starting driver". This driver will, as outlined in the Driver Ratings section, have more influence on the stat balance for that car. In general, you want your highest ranked driver as the starter.
To minimize annoyance and setup time on my end, you are limited to a maximum of five driver changes in a season.
If you manage to land a management seat for a team which has both Group 1 AND Group 2 cars (such as ARTA), you can choose to either manage both teams, or manage only the Group 1 team.
Group 1
You cannot create new teams in this category, as aside from one, they're all the actual Super GT teams. You can, however, apply to manage for any of the 14 teams, although good bathpluggin' luck trying to wrestle control of Tsuchigami no Kyojin from my hands. You don't touch my waifu or my waifuteam. *ahem* One user per team, please.
The driver pairing for your team is required to consist of at least Silver rank drivers. There is no penalty for running Platinum tier drivers.
Group 2
You can either create a new team in this category, or you can apply to run for an existing team. This Group consists of a few current Super GT superstars, alongside a couple of legends for good measure. No team is allowed to have more than 2 cars. I'm okay with users managing more than one Group 2 team, but don't be a hog.
No team is allowed a Platinum driver in any of their pairings. There is a +15 kg weight penalty should you choose to run two Gold rank drivers.
You get to choose your own tire brand if you're in this Group, but more on that fuzzy bunny later.
Event Format
Each event is simulated as a truncated version of an actual Super GT weekend within the rFactor game, using a specially compiled and modified mod for the series. (Links to be announced)
There are two practice sessions, each lasting 30 minutes, one for each Group.
There are two 'main' qualifying sessions, lasting 20 minutes, again, one for each Group. All teams outside of the top 5 will be locked to their starting positions at this point. The top 5 advance to a 10-minute long Super Lap session, where drivers will have at most two laps to make their best lap to determine the rest of the starting order.
Only one race session occurs per Event - both Groups race simultaneously, in either a 300 km or a 500 km race. The only exception to this is the Velocity of Sound season finale, held at Fuji Speedway with a grueling 1000 kilometer length.
Points and Weight Handicap
Points for both classes go as follows:
1st = 20 pt.
2nd = 17 pt.
3rd = 14 pt.
4th = 12 pt.
5th = 10 pt.
6th = 9 pt.
7th = 8 pt.
8th = 7 pt.
9th = 6 pt.
10th = 5 pt.
11th = 4 pt.
12th = 3 pt.
On lead lap, but out of top 12 = 2 pt.
2 or more laps down, but over 75% distance covered = 1 pt.
DNF with less than 75% distance covered = 0 pt.
Weight Handicap distribution is as follows:
1st = +15 kg
2nd = +10 kg
3rd = +5 kg
4th to 7th = 0 kg
8th to 12th = -5 kg
Outside of top 12 = -10 kg
The maximum handicap in both classes is 100 kg. No team is allowed to have a 'negative' value for a handicap, and as outlined in the Driver Ranks section, Group 2 teams with two Gold drivers must run a minimum handicap of 15 kg.
As a special rule for the Velocity of Sound finale, all weight handicapped accrued over the season will be nullified. However, Group 2 teams will still be subject to the 15 kg handicap if they run two Gold drivers like in any other race.
Sign-up Phases
There is a multiple-stage sign-up system for this series, similar to GT Super Series.
- Group 1 team managers
- Group 2 full-season team managers
- Group 2 part-time team managers
- Last call for part-time or one-offs
Group 2 teams only - Livery Submission
If you would like to submit your own livery for your Group 2 team, download the templates and base mod here by clicking. This will contain everything required to paint your car and preview it in rFactor.
Also, please keep the primary/title sponsorships relevant to the Asia-Pacific region. Unless you're doing a one-off for Long Beach, I seriously doubt Popeye's wants anything to do with a Super GT team.
The next post will outline which cars and teams are available, alongside the series schedule and results when those pop up.
The detailed explanation is now up as an amendment to the first post, but TL;DR - drivers have a "stat average" from their Driver rank, and you submit a "stat build" that adjusts their ability in more detail.
