F1 Games

The F1Fanatic Automobile Club de l’Ouest (F1FACO) in collaboration with Collantine Cup Rules, Administration and Planning (CCRAP) are holding the second annual special endurance race at the famed Circuit de la Sarthe next weekend, following the success of the inaugural event.

As was the case last year, entries are open to anyone that happens to be sporting a PS3, copy of GT5, and an internet service on the 16th of June.

To simulate an endurance race — but without scheduling it to be run over 24 hours — the race will feature an accelerated day/night transition. A full 24 hour cycle of sun, stars and moon will be visible over the 24 laps, so headlights are advised if you’re the kind of person that is not a cat.

Perhaps most importantly, the race is supposed to be fun. There will be no prizes, and certainly not much pride to be gained from doing well in this race apart from an overwhelming feeling of euphoria that will see you out until next year.

Basically, if you’re entering with a win-at-all-costs attitude, you mightn’t get along too well with the majority of the field. But if you like having a laugh and feel like challenging yourself to a mini-endurance race (it’s roughly as long as a Grand Prix in duration) against all of the faceless F1 anoraks hiding behind their veils of anonymity that you see and speak to on here quite often, you should enjoy yourself.

Another tip: pretend you’re driving on Pirellis. And don’t take too many risks.

We’re also proud to announce the return of the F1F GT5 Wall of Fame (the whiteboard hanging up in Magnificent Geoffrey’s bedroom). “What’s this exciting thing?” Basically, it’s a whiteboard in Magnificent Geoffrey’s bedroom. (But if you’re aroused by the thought of having one of F1Fanatic’s most prominent members fall asleep in the presence of your online name, it would be a good idea to enter and finish the race)

If you’ve not fallen asleep yet, we’ll begin the briefing…

The second annual F1F GT5 Le Mans 24 Laps of Le Mans will be held on Saturday, 16 June at 12:00pm British Summer Time (11:00am GMT). This time does not clash with the actual Le Mans 24 Hours, nor does it clash with any of the F1FACO members’ social lives.

To see what time the race will begin in your time zone, CLICK HERE. If your time zone is not included, there’s a good chance you may not be living on earth.

Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans in France. But you can race remotely if you choose.

To compete in the race, you must join a private GT5 online lounge which is only accessible by those on the PSN friendslist of the host. If you have a decent and stable internet connection and would like to help out by hosting, please contact F1FACO (or just me via personal message or you can even reply on here because I’m pretty cool like that).

Cars must consist of 4 wheels and an engine. They also must adhere to the following restrictions:

• Cars can be up to 700 performance points
• Cars above 700pp can be brought below the limit by adding ballast or decreasing power
• Vehicles below 700pp can be brought up to the limit by upgrading and tuning the car
• Only one of each car is permitted in the race
• No Formula racing cars or the X2010 are permitted
• No weapons

Because we’re lazy, here’s the rules from last year’s race pasted below. This of course means that nothing has changed for the second running of the event.

The race will be run on the Change Time/Change Weather 2009 version of Le Mans, so prepare for the possibility of wet running and make sure that your car has working headlights and that you’re familiar with how to operate them.

The lobby settings for the race will be as follows:

• Skid Recovery: Allowed
• Active Steering: Allowed
• Driving Line: Allowed
• TCS: Allowed
• ABS: Allowed
• ASM: Allowed
• Tyre Wear & Fuel Simulation: On
• Grip Reduction; Rain & Track Edge: Low
• Penalties: Off
• Damage: Light
• Boost: Low (This will ensure the race remains exciting and fun for all participants)

There will be no tyre restrictions, and racing tyres are allowed.

The race will begin from a Standing Start.

As GT5’s qualifying system is quite confusing at best, there won’t be any official qualifying session held and the grid will be decided by random. However, because it’s an endurance race and BOOST* is enabled, starting grid position is really not that important.

*Looks better in bold

As GT5 only supports up to 16-player online races, there will only be 16 drivers in this race. As one of them (two, actually, which I’ll explain if anyone’s interested) will be me, that leaves 15 places. So basically, get in quick and let us know if you’re able to race and would in fact like to.

Make sure you post your PSN username so the host can add you as a friend.

More details will be posted here as the date nears, so be sure to check back every so often!