1.5 weeks of Online Racing and made it!
I wrote last week after my first 6 races - https://www.reddit.com/r/GranTurismo7/comments/1wuw3xk/first_6_races_in_sport_mode_its_good_fun_but_1/
Have been obsessed with the game and finally managed to get rank A! I think it's an achievement given that I haven't played gt7 that much and have not raced online ever - just bots in various racing games and the standard career cafes and standard driver license in GT7.
It took "just" 115 races and 50 top fives. Just now finished Daytona as the only B driver mixed with A and A+ I wanted to show some footage but I'm on a ps4 pro and it seems that extracting it is a bit annoying. Started 6th and drove together and respectfully next to an A+ german driver to P4. No bs, no attacking, just sportsmanship and we picked of a bunch of people fighting ahead of us during the race.
At one moment I doubted if clean racing can take me to A level but those doubts are gone completely. I didn't make many enemies along the way and was pushed off a few times but learned to place my car better and just chill. I think in the last 10-20 races I have 1 or max 2 finishes out of top 8.
Strategy was circuit experience to try the track -> set good qualifying learning from the top in the ranking boards + following the top ghosts -> watch some streamers do the races so I see the strat and overtake spots -> race myself and stay out of trouble.
If it matters, I only did daily race C the first 65 races, then tried B and got hooked so probably did about 35 race B and the rest race C again to try the F-type. Wanted to go against the meta and used the Viper for the most time but I thought the F-types had a better time from the start and especially managing Viper tyres at the end was tough. F-type you can turn up brake bias and leave it like that, the Viper I had to drive on -2,-3 to hopefully have a rear right on the last lap.
I'm using t300 wheelbase and TM's loadcell pedals idk what they are called. Attached to Playseat Challenge. Really looking forward to a more rigid rig but it works well enough for my ambitions!
Not crashing and avoiding others kept me at SR S maxed out most of the time which meant nicer lobbies. Getting within 1-1.5s of the best times in the leaderboard meant that I start very far up front. I set a bomb time in the Viper at Daytona and for C and most of B I was just starting first and finishing close to the front. I couldn't keep up at the race pace but taking 3rd after 3rd is a sure way to make ranks.
I was almost never the fastest but I think I never gave up and tried to be as consistent as possible - it paid off big time. I learned this style of racing Mini-Z remote-controlled cars the past 12 months. Have some great drivers around me giving me tips and this tactic and approach worked perfectly in online racing on GT7, too :))
I hope we have more and more clean racing in the future and see you all on the track!