IFCA Series News

GTDon2 wrote:


Provided we can keep drivers interested in Forza with how it evolves through T10 updates each month, we will likely begin organizing a Triple Crown series in the future.  It's long overdue.  It just takes a lot of guys to stick with it is the problem more than anything.

For those of you who don't know, the IFCA Triple Crown was a semi-annual event where we used the IFCA relay format in 3 extra long races.  It was never an actual series.   The relay format allows teams to share the driving duties like in a real endurance race through a sequence of pit stops.  It's the only way to simulate endurance racing driver exchanges in Forza without having the actual feature to do so.

In this way a 2 man team can operate as a team and experience all the ups and downs that endurance racing offers.  It makes for some super fun racing and exciting finishes.

We are looking into a program where we have twelve 2 man teams.  Each driver would take a 1 hour stint making it a 2 hour race.  We would use 4 classes of cars just like IMSA does. 4 teams would be in the top GTP class. 4 teams would be in the LMP2 class, and 4 teams would be in the GTD Pro with 4 teams in the GTD class, for a total of 12 teams and 24 drivers.  Each class would have just 2 cars to pick from.

The thinking is to have a kind of equal legends vs lions car selection, meaning old school vs new to mix things up in a fun way.  Some people don't like the new cars as much as the old and some do, so why not offer a bit of both.

As far as how many stints will be used per hour is not set yet.  We could break each hour of racing into 2 or 4 or just 1 pit stop exchange. We are still studying it.  As the veterans know, too many stint's gets confusing and doesn't allow drivers to get in a good rhythm, whereas too few stints can make the race too static and boring waiting for your turn.

Feel free to offer your suggestions if you have any, here. Thanks.

Here are the cars being considered:

GTP	2023 Cadillac #01
	1985 Nissan #83 GTP ZX-Turbo
LMP2	2017 Ferrari #25 Corse Clienti 488
	1991 Ford #15 Roush Racing Mustang
GTD Pro	2005 Ford GT
	1967 Ferrari #24 330 P4
GTD	1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR
	1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

As cool as it sounds old vs new school the way forza is makes for bad racing you either get a rocket ship or a car that handles too good yes they can run same times but bad racing on track maybe if 4 classes do upper 2 classes all new and lower 2 all old and with a 2 car per class you can def make 2 cars very close that are already in same division which should make building for equal pretty easy

RIOT ChevyPower wrote:As cool as it sounds old vs new school the way forza is makes for bad racing you either get a rocket ship or a car that handles too good yes they can run same times but bad racing   on track maybe if 4 classes do upper 2 classes all new and lower 2 all old and with a 2 car per class you can def make 2 cars very close that are already in same division which should make building for equal pretty easy

Were it not for the format I would agree. Normally you are right, but with the relay, the cars get spread out more, even when they are Spec cars. So, I think it is probably fine in this case honestly. In fact, your concern is so shared that I would also not recommend different era cars in any other format either. But the relay is uniquely different and the only format that can get away with this. So it becomes the one time when you can really do this sort of thing.

After experimenting with car selection during Season 1 of the new game, we will continue to allow you to use either one of the two cars offered in each class for each track.  We feel that doing so doesn't hurt the racing at all but to the contrary makes picking a car less of a headache, more flexible, and closer, with more strategic racing.  In this way no one is stuck in 1 car, you'll have 2 different cars to use how you like the whole season.

As for which class you wish to compete in, this will all depend on which class you qualify in on the practice leaderboard before the season begins.  There will only be 4 team slots open per class.  For example, let's say you want to run in the top GTP class, but 4 teams record a faster combined average time then your team; you'll have 2 choices at that point, get faster and bump one of them out, or post times in a different class.

1	GTP
2	GTP
3	GTP
4	GTP
5	LMP2
6	LMP2
7	LMP2
8	LMP2
9	GTD Pro
10	GTD Pro
11	GTD
12	GTD

The only difference between GTD Pro and GTD, is the name and the cars.  The relative performance of both classes is intended to be the same and in the same Forza class, S-Class in this case.  

In real life the GTD Pro teams race the same cars as GTD, the difference being the drivers.  GTD are Pro/Am teams, and GTD Pro are all Pro drivers only.  We will not use this same distinction and require our Pro drivers to run as a team.  Instead we will offer 2 cars for each class with an equal BoP.  This means that there will be 2 GTD Pro teams and 2 GTD teams.

So, the new twist or wrinkle if you haven't noticed (aside from car selection) is that this relay format is a multi-class series where you will only be competing against 3 other teams per class.  Each class will earn its own separate championship title.

GTDon2 wrote:After experimenting with car selection during Season 1 of the new game, we will continue to allow you to use either one of the two cars offered in each class for each track.  We feel that doing so doesn't hurt the racing at all but to the contrary makes picking a car less of a headache, more flexible, and closer, with more strategic racing.  In this way no one is stuck in 1 car, you'll have 2 different cars to use how you like the whole season.

As for which class you wish to compete in, this will all depend on which class you qualify in on the practice leaderboard before the season begins.  There will only be 4 team slots open per class.  For example, let's say you want to run in the top GTP class, but 4 teams record a faster combined average time then your team; you'll have 2 choices at that point, get faster and bump one of them out, or post times in a different class.

1	GTP
2	GTP
3	GTP
4	GTP
5	LMP2
6	LMP2
7	LMP2
8	LMP2
9	GTD Pro
10	GTD Pro
11	GTD
12	GTD

The only difference between GTD Pro and GTD, is the name and the cars.  The relative performance of both classes is intended to be the same and in the same Forza class, S-Class in this case.  

In real life the GTD Pro teams race the same cars as GTD, the difference being the drivers.  GTD are Pro/Am teams, and GTD Pro are all Pro drivers only.  We will not use this same distinction and require our Pro drivers to run as a team.  Instead we will offer 2 cars for each class with an equal BoP.  This means that there will be 2 GTD Pro teams and 2 GTD teams.

So, the new twist or wrinkle if you haven't noticed (aside from car selection) is that this relay format is a multi-class series where you will only be competing against 3 other teams per class.  Each class will earn its own separate championship title.

Okay, it sounds like a few of us would prefer there be fewer classes in order to have more drivers competing directly against each other.  With 3-4 classes you can only have 4 racers per class.  But, if we only have 2 classes, we can have 6 racers racing against each other on the track from each of the two classes. That would be 12 drivers on the track at the same time with a 24 grid field.  It would still be considered a multi-class race too.

I'll be looking at which car classes and cars to use in a 2 class relay format, and get back to everyone soon.

Okay boys, I think we have an idea of what we want now.  Still not written in stone yet, but I think this is the right direction all things considered. 

The 2 classes will be GTP and TA.  That's right, we have been trying to figure out a way to race the TA cars since we have always been a Trans Am race league essentially.  Our good fortune is that Forza is the first sim to ever offer actual modern American TA racing cars.  Not iRacing, not Assetto Corsa, not Gran Turismo, no one has ever done this.  Well, we can't very well ignore this good fortune now can we.  No.  We have to figure out a way to incorporate these amazing beasts with what we do.  

The problem is, they are all DLC cars!  Thanks T10.  Not everyone will have all of them or any of them it turns out.  The solution then has to be to offer some sort of equitable alternative replacement cars that can equally compete with the TA cars for those drivers who don't have the TA cars. This is a tall order whether in a sim or real life because the TA cars are in a league of their own.  They are flat out raw race cars with tubular chassis designs, full race suspensions, huge tires, and use an unlimited NASCAR style small block V8, that's normally aspirated, of around 800hp! They are one of the last unlimited classes in all of motorsports without ABS or TCS.

In real life the TA cars can be somewhat compared to the top of the line GT cars of IMSA and the WEC, which are more production based race cars.  The TA cars have  superior speed to GT cars but lack the high tech sophistication of TCS, ABS, and computer control.  GT cars are somewhat better getting in and out of the corners than the TA cars, but lack the enormous horsepower of the TA cars.

In Forza it is a bit different.  The TA cars actually handle as well or better than the GT cars in part because we do have access to TCS and ABS.  As for speed, the GT cars we think can be made to be as fast as the TA cars for those of us who do not have the DLC TA cars.

The other class we have our eye on is the GTP class, or the Prototype class.  One of the issues with multi-class racing is having too large a gap between car class performance.  This tends to create more crashes with faster cars running into the back of drastically slower cars.  So, if you can narrow the performance gap between classes, less problems tend to occur.  

By using the TA cars, they will be closer and safer to the Prototype cars, allowing drivers to better gauge the tremendous closing speeds.  In this way the lower class TA cars won't be as much of a hinderance or danger on the track as a slower type car would be.

We will be doing some preliminary testing with various cars from each class including the alternative replacement GT cars, and see how it goes now that we don't have to level the cars up anymore and can just buy the parts...

GTDon2 wrote:Okay boys, I think we have an idea of what we want now.  Still not written in stone yet, but I think this is the right direction all things considered. 

The 2 classes will be GTP and TA.  That's right, we have been trying to figure out a way to race the TA cars since we have always been a Trans Am race league essentially.  Our good fortune is that Forza is the first sim to ever offer actual modern American TA racing cars.  Not iRacing, not Assetto Corsa, not Gran Turismo, no one has ever done this.  Well, we can't very well ignore this good fortune now can we.  No.  We have to figure out a way to incorporate these amazing beasts with what we do.  

The problem is, they are all DLC cars!  Thanks T10.  Not everyone will have all of them or any of them it turns out.  The solution then has to be to offer some sort of equitable alternative replacement cars that can equally compete with the TA cars for those drivers who don't have the TA cars. This is a tall order whether in a sim or real life because the TA cars are in a league of their own.  They are flat out raw race cars with tubular chassis designs, full race suspensions, huge tires, and use an unlimited NASCAR style small block V8, that's normally aspirated, of around 800hp! They are one of the last unlimited classes in all of motorsports without ABS or TCS.

In real life the TA cars can be somewhat compared to the top of the line GT cars of IMSA and the WEC, which are more production based race cars.  The TA cars have  superior speed to GT cars but lack the high tech sophistication of TCS, ABS, and computer control.  GT cars are somewhat better getting in and out of the corners than the TA cars, but lack the enormous horsepower of the TA cars.

In Forza it is a bit different.  The TA cars actually handle as well or better than the GT cars in part because we do have access to TCS and ABS.  As for speed, the GT cars we think can be made to be as fast as the TA cars for those of us who do not have the DLC TA cars.

The other class we have our eye on is the GTP class, or the Prototype class.  One of the issues with multi-class racing is having too large a gap between car class performance.  This tends to create more crashes with faster cars running into the back of drastically slower cars.  So, if you can narrow the performance gap between classes, less problems tend to occur.  

By using the TA cars, they will be closer and safer to the Prototype cars, allowing drivers to better gauge the tremendous closing speeds.  In this way the lower class TA cars won't be as much of a hinderance or danger on the track as a slower type car would be.

We will be doing some preliminary testing with various cars from each class including the alternative replacement GT cars, and see how it goes now that we don't have to level the cars up anymore and can just buy the parts...

So glad we can now just buy parts and build cars as we see fit.  This is a huge help for league organizers.  

So far, we have managed to balance and equalize the lower class group of cars for the proposed Season 3 relay.  All 4 TA cars will be able to be used as R-Class cars, and for those who don't have some of these cars, we have opted to offer you just 1 alternative car to use as a substitute.  Mainly because there was only 1 R-Class race car that had the  performance capability to keep up with these monster 850hp TA cars, that wasn't itself also some sort of DLC car.  That being the C8 Corvette race car.  So, if you don't have a TA car (shame on you) your option is to use the C8 Corvette race car.

Builds will be revealed soon so that everyone has the maximum time they can have to get used to driving these things well before Season 3 begins.  Not to get too far ahead of myself, but we will reinstitute the car handicaps for this format.  We will also continue using our current driver rating system as it is.  And, teammates will not be forced to use the same car, they will need to have the same livery however.  Teams will also be able to switch cars each round as they so desire.

Next up in testing will be 4 P-Class cars.

Alrighty then, below are the cars for Season 3.  Actual builds will be posted soon.  

You may use any car to race each week within a given class.  You may not switch classes however.  Whichever class you qualify with to get into the season is the class you must stick with.  You and your teammate must race in the same class, but may use different cars each week from that class.


GTP (P-Class)
1.) 2023 Cadillac #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series R
2.) 2010 Chevrolet #55 Level 5 Motorsports Oreca FLM09
3.) 1999 BMW #15 Motorsport V12 LMR
4.) 1985 Nissan #83 GTP ZX-Turbo

TA (R-Class)
1.) 2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.R
2.) 2019 Dodge #9 American Road Racing TA Challenger
3.) 2018 Chevrolet #23 Ruman Racing TA Corvette
4.) 2018 Ford #98 Breathless Pro Racing TA Mustang
5.) 2018 Cadillac #57 TA CTS-V


Tracks
Watkins Glen full
Daytona 24hr
Sebring
Road America
LeMans

Car builds have been published here:

https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6907-season-3-fm-car-builds

GTDon2 wrote:


Alrighty then, below are the cars for Season 3.  Actual builds will be posted soon.  

You may use any car to race each week within a given class.  You may not switch classes however.  Whichever class you qualify with to get into the season is the class you must stick with.  You and your teammate must race in the same class, but may use different cars each week from that class.


GTP (P-Class)
1.) 2023 Cadillac #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series R
2.) 2010 Chevrolet #55 Level 5 Motorsports Oreca FLM09
3.) 1999 BMW #15 Motorsport V12 LMR
4.) 1985 Nissan #83 GTP ZX-Turbo

TA (R-Class)
1.) 2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.R
2.) 2019 Dodge #9 American Road Racing TA Challenger
3.) 2018 Chevrolet #23 Ruman Racing TA Corvette
4.) 2018 Ford #98 Breathless Pro Racing TA Mustang
5.) 2018 Cadillac #57 TA CTS-V


Tracks
Watkins Glen full
Daytona 24hr
Sebring
Road America
LeMans

Bear in mind there is a limited number of grid positions for each class.  Each class only has 6 grid positions open using  a 2 man team format.  If there are more TA qualifiers than there are GTP qualifiers, those outside of the 6 top TA teams will be moved to GTP.  Or, if there are more GTP teams than TA teams, again those outside of the top 6 will be filtered over to the TA class.  We require there to be an equal number (6 teams) for each class is why.  

Both classes are competing for their own class championship.  Your combined team finishing order determines your team's finishing position points each race. Finishing 1 and 2 is a net average of 1.5 or the best anyone can do, and thus #1 finishing order points, for example.

We will also do a "dry run" practice race the week before the season begins to insure everyone understands how the format works.

Car builds have been published here:

https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6907-season-3-fm-car-builds

Because there will be "limited seating" in Season 3 with just 6 teams for each class, you should start your testing NOW so you can make sure your 2 man team gets into the class you want.  It is your best combined average team practice lap time that will be counted for your class and grid position.  The top 6 GTP teams and the top 6 TA teams will be based on combined team average practice laps.  If you are bumped out of say GTP, you can then attempt to get into the TA class or vice versa.

This is why we have posted the builds as quickly as we did.  So that everyone can have plenty of time to test out all the cars they like.  Remember, you don't have to drive the same car as your teammate, but you do have to be in the same class, either GTP or TA.

builds are here:
https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6907-season-3-fm-car-builds

You asked for it, you get it! The IFCA Discord is now active! All you need to do is go sign-in.

https://discord.gg/ZsFA6Ns6

IFCA GTDon wrote:You asked for it, you get it! The IFCA Discord is now active! All you need to do is go sign-in.

https://discord.gg/ZsFA6Ns6

I will be posting my screen captured times on the Xbox Live club site for all to see.