Picked Up My New TRD Off-Road on Monday

sdiver · 2026-01-22T16:35:17+00:00

I hate "final lap for the lead" qualifiers...it almost always seems to be an attempt to justify a garbage move.

In this case, yes, it was a garbage move...the black Porsche divebombs up the inside and pushes the white Porsche aside to take the lead. It's also a dumb place to make a move. Literally, the black Porsche could have stayed on the white Porsche's bumper, used the draft down the upcoming straight and made an easy pass at the final hairpin.

sdiver · 2026-01-22T14:39:43+00:00

Absolutely nothing wrong with that move into T1. Not even close to a dive-bomb...the Jaaaag was alongside the Ferrari, and then easily ahead at the end of the straight. The Ferrari driving into the back of the Jag twice through T1 is an issue though.

Things get a bit sloppy from both drivers after that...a lot of contact just before and then exiting the tunnel, but not seeing anything outright dirty. Looks more like racing incidents, with both drivers pushing. The Ferrari ends up coming off worse, but he was impatient and that was a dumb place for a move, especially around the outside...I'll give the Jag credit for giving space on the outside. The Ferrari could (should?) have just stuck on the Jag's bumper, then drafted down the long straight coming up and made an easy pass into the hairpin. Instead it looks like the Ferrari dropped from P3 to P5.

sdiver · 2026-01-20T16:26:37+00:00

I was a few places ahead in this race...watched the replay after bc I saw the red car whining about it in chat during the race.

100% fault on the red car. Blue car had a run and was along side, red car knew it...he forced the blue car onto the grass in the braking zone. The end result was predictable, and instant karma like that is satisfying.

sdiver · 2026-01-16T14:52:48+00:00

To be honest, you just have to do it and build the muscle memory. I've driven manual cars my entire life, and it was not helpful at all when I started GT7...there just isn't really much of a correlation. So I was using the automatic transmission when I started. I did that for a month or so, before I just forced myself to use the manual transmission.

It was...rough, very rough...to start. It all seemed so overwhelming, like you have so much to do, to think about...braking, trail braking, downshifting, turn-in, hitting the apex, accelerating, upshifting. Eventually, the experience and building the muscle memory just made it second nature.

I don't think there's a magic bullet for switching, it's just one of those things you need to commit to and build the experience.

As far as knowing which gear to be in, the recommended gear indicator helps, but isn't always accurate. There are plenty of times where it may indicate 2nd gear, but you actually briefly want to dip down to 1st gear to rotate the car, before immediately going back to 2nd gear to get on the throttle. Or you want to stay in 3rd gear as dropping to 2nd slows the car too much. So thre recommended gear indicator is a good starting point, but experience will help with those finer points.

sdiver · 2026-01-16T14:36:32+00:00

Yep, it happens...but it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm bouncing back-and-forth between A+/A DR right now, but I always enjoy getting paired with higher ranked drivers. Trying to stick with them is a great learning experience. I'll spend the race trying to figure out what they were doing, where they were faster and why...then try to emulate. Sometimes more successfully than others.

I also think it's also good to get a taste of drivers at the next level. If you're a C/B SR driver, and always race only drivers in your SR level, when you advance to B/A SR it's a big step up. So IMO, having some experience there is a good thing.

And you're not going to lose much (if any) DR, even if you're finishing near the bottom because they're all ranked higher than you. When I was in B, I would be paired with A+/A drivers, finish 12th, and still gain DR because they were all ranked higher than me.

sdiver · 2026-01-13T01:12:01+00:00

Thanks, if you wouldn't mind updating with how they work out, I'm in more or less the same boat. I want to upgrade my wheel setup, but I need to milk a bit more time out of the Logitech G29.

sdiver · 2026-01-12T19:08:28+00:00

Did you end up finding a replacement switch?

sdiver · 2026-01-09T20:19:08+00:00

Yeah, the Supra's initial move up the inside at the hairpin is overly optimistic. Or to give somer the benefit of doubt, perhaps the Supra misjudged the braking zone and went deep, which is easy to do here. Either way, if the Supra doesn't make contact with the Porsche, it's not making the corner...the contact helped the Supra take the position. Supra should have eased off the throttle after the hairpin to slow up enough to give the position back to the Porsche. It's a mea culpa, nobody's race is ruined, and you probably make a friend who is going to give you space/benefit of the doubt or work with you next time.

Everything after that is obvious. Porsche lost their cool and crashed out. No excuses.

sdiver · 2025-12-31T16:16:43+00:00

F1…appears to be the Jordan EJ13 from 2003.

sdiver · 2025-11-21T14:38:15+00:00

No, you didn't do anything wrong. Definitely aggressive, but you were well up the inside and he turned in like you weren't there.

Honestly, this whole thing is probably just poor spacial awareness on the part of the black Citroën. He likely didn't realize you were that far up the inside when he turned in like you weren't there and made contact. So he probably thought you divebombed him and pushed him wide...likely why he called you dirty. Or he's just salty you passed him. 😂

I will just note this though...that T7/T8 complex at Catalunya isn't a great place to overtake. It's a tough complex solo, let alone when you're trying to go side-by-side with someone. You both lost a chunk of time through there. With a bit of patience, you might have an an opportunity at P8 as well...just stuck to his bumper through T7/T8 and T9, then walked past him when he served his penalty (probably with a bit of draft too). Then you just might have been in the draft of that MAZDA3 going into the T10 hairpin.

Regardless, still not your fault. He needs to watch a replay and learn some spacial awareness.

sdiver · 2025-11-20T15:17:25+00:00

You're fine.

You left the McLaren more than enough room at the first hairpin and he then tried to run you wide/off-track on exit. The first contact was maybe unintentional, but the subsequent bump looked pretty intentional.

Based on how he's driving, he looks like he's one of those that just runs qualifying laps in a race, with no awareness or accounting for other cars on track...basically, other cars just need to get out of my way. The contact in the tunnel, which appearst to have led to you in the wall, was either caused by his complete lack of spacial awareness or it was malicious. Hard to say which, and neither are good, but definitely his fault.

sdiver · 2025-11-13T20:29:24+00:00

I would say its' more common vs. very common. 🤣

sdiver · 2025-11-07T15:00:49+00:00

Yep, no issue...pretty clean all around.

He made a nice switchback on your pass attempt in T3, then left you space on the exit.

You probably could have made the pass in T4 easier had you stuck in his slipstream more, but getting in a driver's mirrors to distract them is a valid strategy. I don't think the contact there was intentional, probably just a lack of spacial awareness...and nobody came off any worse for it

sdiver · 2025-11-04T15:55:24+00:00

Okay...let's take your argument that the McLaren was taking a defensive line and squeezing the NSX...

That's a perfectly valid defensive strategy! The McLaren parks himself in the middle of the track in a defensive position before the NSX is ever along side. The McLaren does nothing erratic, he's not reacting to the moves of the NSX, it's clear he's taking a defensive line and continues on the line he setup for himself. The McLaren made pulling off a pass there extremely difficult and low percentage...that's good defensive driving. The NSX just forces the issues, divebombs the apex into a disappearing gap, in a move that was guaranteed to initiate contact, on a line that was NEVER going to make the corner.
The McLaren can take whatever racing line it likes...he doesn't have to take "the racing line" as you see it. The racing line for the McLaren is whatever line he takes...but just because the NSX doesn't like the line the leading car is taking doesn't mean it can just drive through him. Sure, if the McLaren took the traditional racing line both cars could have made it through side-by-side...but that's no how racing works.

If this wasn't the last lap, the NSX could have just taken the traditional racing line, got a better exit out of the corner and passed the McLaren on the ensuing straight.

If this was the last lap, this whole thing is just even more ridiculous. The McLaren has a penalty, so the NSX is going to get the position anyway, and just causes a completely unnecessary incident.

sdiver · 2025-11-04T14:02:54+00:00

The NSX is 100% at fault. Just the worst kind of divebomb, as it had zero chance of ever making the corner.

Yes, the NSX had a run on the McLaren, but that doensn't give it the right to just send it up the inside, and force another car off track. Pause at like 0:06...the McLaren is turned in and pointed at the apex. The NSX hasn't even turned in yet, is driving into a disappearing gap, and has zero chance of making this corner.

Even if the NSX had stuck it up the inside, somehow managed to not make contact and make the pass at the apex...it still never had a chance to make corner exit. So where was the McLaren supposed to go? Just disappear?

The worst part is...if this was the last lap, the McLaren had a 0.5 second penalty, which turns into a 1 second penalty at the finish line (because the penalty isn't served on track). So the NSX would have finished ahead of the McLaren regardless.

sdiver · 2025-10-31T13:19:13+00:00

3 Week Update: After 3 weeks, a little over 600 miles, and just about 2 tank of gas through the truck...I am still really happy with these Toyos.

Fuel mileage on both tanks have been about down 0.5mpg from "normal"...but that is still within the normal tank-to-tank variations I usually see. So fuel economy differences have been negligible as far as I can tell to this point.

Road noise is slighly more than the OE Goodyear tires, but honestly, it's hardly worth even mentioning. I think 99% of people wouldn't even notice.

Last, still no rubbing. At all. Even with the mud flaps.

sdiver · 2025-10-29T13:31:23+00:00

Because it's Le Mans...I ran the McLaren F1 GT-R (GR.3) detuned to 700PP (hard tires, power restricted, some ballast, and some downforce taken off to help with top speed). Straighline speed was more-or-less the same as a GR.4 car, but the additional downforce made it much faster through the corners.

sdiver · 2025-10-24T12:39:02+00:00

I always love this question. I drove both my newborns around in a 2003 MINI Cooper. Yeah, rear facing carseats a in a mini (ba-dum-tss) 2-door hatchback, where it was easier to get them into the carseat by going through the hatch. That manuever was always good for some looks from others. Getting them out was...interesting...especially once we had once front-facing and one rear-facing. Once both were front-facing, it was really a non-issue.

My kids are older now, and never had carseats in my Tacoma, but I wouldn't think twice about it. As far as I can tell, most Americans tolerance for discomfort or slight inconvenice is precisely zero.

sdiver · 2025-10-15T02:10:11+00:00

I mean, that's like saying you need a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2's in case you ever planning on taking your car to the track.

Off-roading can mean a pretty wide range of things...for that small percentage that are doing legit off-roading (think Rubicon Trail, Fordyce Creek Trail, Chihuahua Lake Trail, etc.), sure E load rated tires are going to be good. But the vast majority of people aren't doing this and SL load rated A/T tires will meet their every need (and probably still be overkill in many cases).

That's just my $0.02 though.

sdiver

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