Hello everyone I'm Broughy1322 and this is going to be a quick video explaining how open
wheel races work, in addition to talking a little bit about the new Progen PR4 and Ocelot
R88.
So first of all, and it's kind of amazing after covering racing in this game for almost
7 years to say this, open wheel formula 1 style cars have been added to GTA Online.
The Progen PR4 is modelled after a late 80's/early 90's F1 car and is generally quicker than
the late 70's/early 80's style F1 car, the Ocelot R88 (the cars will look like different
eras depending on the body mods you have on and so forth). So if you're only going to
get one for races, you only need to think about the PR4. Which is the more expensive
car at 3.5 million dollars versus 3.1 million.
We've also for the first time since the game was released back in 2013 seen a brand new
car class added to the game. While all arena war or special vehicles in the past may have
had specific restrictions for races, the vehicles themselves have always been put into pre-existing
classes (like super, sports, muscle, etc). The PR4 and R88 are different because they're
in the brand new Open Wheel class. You can't race them against other supercars or on normal
races like other classes, and I imagine Rockstar wouldn't go to the trouble of adding a new
class for just two cars, so I expect we'll see more in the future (and probably even
more expensive iterations if they're modelled on more modern open wheel cars).
The cars themselves have a wide array of body modifications including front and rear wings
that actually impact performance. The general rule is that the larger the front wing the
more downforce will be on the car at the front, and the same for the larger rear wings at
the back. More downforce means more cornering speed at the cost of straight line speed.
So having the smallest wings on the front and rear will give you the highest top speeds,
but the car won't turn quite as well as if you had the biggest wings and the lowest top
speed. Each wing is different so there are hundreds of setup options, but I'll cover
all of that in depth in a future video after I've done some extra testing. I'll also of
course be doing lap time and top speed testing in my usual way after I have a better idea
of how all the setups work. Once those videos are live I'll link them in the description
of this video for anyone who's watching this later, but until then stay tuned and make
sure you're subscribed for notifications of those videos.
When it comes to open wheel races, at launch we only have Rockstar created tracks. However
I'd expect we'll see the ability to create open wheel races in the creator fairly soon
for the community to make better things. One of the main issues is that the Rockstar open
wheel races are limited to 16 players, but hopefully in the creator 30 will be allowed.
You can find the new open wheel races by going to the pause menu, then Online, Jobs, Play
Job, Rockstar Created, Races, and scrolling to O for Open Wheel. While some of the tracks
aren't too bad, some leave a lot to be desired and as usual the community will most likely
be able to create better suited circuits when they're allowed to do so. However that's all
we have at launch so if you're jumping into an Open Wheel race these are the nuances you
need to know.
First is tyre wear. In the lobby screen for these races you can choose either Soft, Medium,
or Hard tyres to apply to your car for the race. Softs will be the quickest but last
the least amount of time, Hards will last the longest but be slowest, and Mediums are
in between. When you're in a race you'll have a tyre wear indicator and when that drops
to the red zone you don't have long before you lose grip, slide out, and crash. If you
let the indicator deplete completely your wheels will pop (regardless of whether you
have bulletproof wheels or not).
To fix your tyres you have to drive into the pit lane and stop while they're regenerated.
Grip does remain the same on the tyres throughout a stint - you don't gradually lose speed as
the indicator depletes until you get to the red zone. In general the grip advantage from
soft tyres isn't enough to make up any time loss you'll have in the pits, so you always
want to use the hardest tyres that will get you through a full race without having to
make a pit stop. Soft tyres tend to be able to do a full 5 lap race on these tracks, mediums
will last a full 10 lap race and Hards at least a 15 lap race, but more testing again
needs to be done on all of this.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these cars have a KERS power boost system, which
regenerates when you're off throttle or braking, and is activated by pressing the left thumb
stick. When you use this boost on a lap is important because these cars take corners
so well that you're not actually regenerating the boost much over a lap. The KERS boost
becomes active after the first lap in a race.
Finally, you can lose your front and rear wings in races and they will negatively impact
performance. It's an extreme example of what I was talking about earlier with different
wings giving different setups. Lose your front wing and you'll lose the ability to turn corners
very well, and lose the rear wing and your back end won't have any grip causing it to
spin around. You'll have a higher top speed without them but you won't be able to corner
very well. Fix these issues in a race by coming into the pits. Respawning will not help.
So for now this is a quick overview of how these races work but when it comes to performance
of the cars in terms of lap times, top speeds, and the various naunces of tyres and body
modifications, it's going to take me some more time to get an idea of how it all works.
Like I said make sure you're subscribed for those videos when the testing is done, and
I'll explain how it all works and what the best setups will be on the cars.
But that's it for this video, thank you all so much for watching I really do appreciate
it, and I'll see you next time.