So, about Blancpain series...

I gotta admit, I've never properly followed Blancpain GT. I don't know the drivers or the teams for the most part. I have skimmed through several races lately and I've got a few questions. Let me start with what I gather so far:

The whole point system has got me confused. Some teams only compete on Endurance, others on both Sprint and Endurance, etc. Then teams might include several cars but then a few of those cars are also a team of their own (???) supported by manufacturers. The official website does a horrible job clearing up the confusion. Clicking on a team from one link gives a different result from clicking it from another. Then you have "Silver Cup" and also "Pro", "Pro-Am" and "Am" drivers. I couldn't find anywhere on the internet any kind of document explaining exactly what's going on.

Then there's the other thing. How does one root for anything in the sport? Can't really root for a manufacturer as there are no manufacturer points. Teams? Teams might compete in the full series, or not. Teams might have more cars and drivers than other teams, making team and driver points completely irrelevant. Maybe just root for car #?

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I find it astonishing how incomplete and badly made the official website is. Been scratching my head for days now, I really want to figure it out but there is no comprehensive information out there.

 

Im kind of in the same boat; I live in Australia and our primary category is V8 Supercars with F1 being our 2nd category of choice.

Whilst GT3 is slowly getting a following here it does not and will not have the emotional following like the V8s does (and Aust Touring Car Championship did before it).

As far as how it works; my observation is this. There are plenty of teams that compete full time and there are others that dont (im guessing because of funding or interests in other series like VLN, North America GT3 ect).

Ive only started following Blancpain since ACC was announced. I cant help but be a fan of Lamborghini myself; its my go-to in any GT3 race if its available so I suppose it the start of who I follow and getting to know the series better.

 

My issue is that for example, Team A has 5 cars while Team B has 3 cars. So their respective points in the championship are almost meaningless as they can't be compared directly. This gets further confusing with each car having anywhere from 2 to 5 drivers.

It appears that Blancpain, unlike what we are told from its marketing, isn't popular at all. I literally can't find anything of substance online. There are no fan youtube channels dedicated to it, only the official one that has race replays sorted in a very confusing manner. There is a sub-reddit with little over 2k subscribers. The website's "about" and "regulations" sections leave a ton to be desired, and navigating between teams, cars, drivers and results or standings just confuses things more.

I really hope someone at Kunos will take the time and give us a meaningful explanation in-game once it's fully released

 

I was thinking couple days back how cool would it be to have YT chanell like Chainbear (that covers F1) but for Blancpain
Started also following Blancpain since ACC got announced watched all the races.. and started noticing some good names and drivers. That i started following and keep track how they drive
Having strugle who to cheer for since i like Lambo,Audi R8`s,Aston Martin all of them

 

That'd be amazing, but unfortunately it seems the popularity is just not there yet for people to bother. Also, isn't it a bit weird to support a manufacturer when there is no manufacturer championship and each has a different amount of cars racing?

 

Why would it be weird? Pick which car model/manufacturer you think is coolest and become a fan of the teams that use it.

 

There is a dedicated YT channel! GT World! 104k subs.

Streamed live on FB and YT

 

Because there would be no actual benchmark to really compare them to. Let's say there are 10 MB cars on the grid and 6 Audi. What is there to compare? I mean I understand where you're coming from, but from a competitive standpoint, there needs to be something set in stone to equally access the competitors. Rankings only take into accounts teams and drivers. But it's like a salad, everything mixed in there. Drivers that might only drive endurance, drivers that might share their endurance cars with more drivers than others, etc.

I guess my question is, how the heck does one follow the standings in a meaningful way?

 

Thank you so much for the write up @pankykapus ! This will be a good starting point.

 

Defining the sprint/endurance as 'cup' rather than a 'championship' manufacturers may back or supply teams/cars but not actually run under the team name, for example: Audi. Although Audi support the teams in a sense by supplying a customer with a homilgated GT3 spec vehicle, in the same way WTCR and national TCR cups work, WRT would run under Belguim club Audi team WRT.
All cars/teams/drivers are eligible for sprint/endurance cups, depending on budgets i assume. Some teams, like WRT audi run sprint & endurance cups. For the big event like Spa 24HR, team WRT may draft in some proven winning drivers, in a driver line-up of PRO drivers to give them a better chance of making progress during the course of the 24HR event, whereas sprint cup drivers may include an academy driver, for example a euro F3 driver stepping up to PRO-AM GT races. I once heard the AM category being referred to as 'gentleman class' .
PRO-AM must consist of at least 1 PRO driver and 1 AM driver, the PRO driver in a way is the AM's mentor.
Any incident on track between PRO and AM is automatically deemed the PRO drivers responsibility, driver breifs always state PRO category drivers must be aware of less experienced drivers on track. Interestingly, PRO drivers are only allowed to give AM or PRO-AM drivers a flash of the headlights once between each corner, as this is deemed as intimidating the less experienced driver on approach to catching lapped traffic, or traffic not racing for position in their category.

This is just judging by my experience of watching all the Blancpain races during the last week or so, im by no means an expert.

 

I wonder how all of this would be implemented in Multiplayer. Certainly people could be considered as "Pros" or "Amateurs" based on their rating and join leagues accordingly. Sounds fun.

 

Yes, i also look forward to how this is is implemented within the multiplayer system, or infact single player. Just need to look for a reputable community so i can join up.

 

Well, since all of this will be baked into the game I don't think there's a need to join a specific comminity like people have been doing with modded content. In theory we will all be part of the same community and the same ratings etc. A bit like iRacing, but with proper physics

 

Well amen to that

 

Interesting stuff , So does this mean driver changes will be instigated in ACC with the AI. Would I be able to have myself and 2 or 3 other fictional names to drive in my team even though I'm still driving, that would be great. I could blame myself for a bad stint, then complement my fictional team mate for a nice one.

 

If you're talking about single player, I think that's very likely how it is going to be.

 

Thanks for the thread. I agree with your opinion regarding the "understandability" of the Blancpain GT Championship
On the results page (https://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/standings?filter_season_id=8&filter_standing_type=0_0_drivers), there are abbreviations, that are quite obvious (Q1, Q2, R1, R2, etc.).
But what does MR mean?

 

I have no idea

 

I think i got it. It's Main Race, which is odd, because it's the only race :-D