Welcome to the inaugural season of the Pacific Endurance Series (PES) presented by Autobacs, a race series home to the fastest GT Endurance racing cars in the world. This dual-class championship tours racing circuits from Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and the US West Coast, setting the stage for an international showdown between some of the most tenacious racing drivers in the world. The series features intense competition from top Japanese manufacturers and four tire brands, aggressive success ballast, and for the first time in any race series in ASMF canon, a cooperative-competitive upgrade system unseen in any other racing series.
Wiki Page (HELP ME!) // Livery Gallery (Coming Soon!) // Base Mod Download (Soon!) // Template Pack (Soon!!)
(This page is a work in progress. Updates are in blue.)
Teams
Teams in PES are separated into two types: Factory and Privateer. What type of team you are will determine what Upgrade Path and thus what rules apply to you when upgrading your cars. Any team may freely be a privateer, but Factory teams will be determined by RNG. As this is the inaugural season, all teams start at a flat 65% chance of being selected as a Factory Team should they choose to apply for such a position.Regardless of being a Factory or Privateer team, all teams in their debut Season start off with 3 million credits (CR).
Factory teams are, as their name implies, supported directly by the manufacturers. They exist in GT Group 1, the top category of PES. Unique to Factory teams is the Cooperative Upgrade Path. Unlike many other GT and Endurance racing series, there can be multiple factory teams under the same manufacturer's banner - why this is important will be in a later section. As a Factory team, you may enter in Group 2 as well, but your Group 2 car manufacturer must match that of your Factory Group 1 car. Also, your Group 2 cars only have the "Privateer" Upgrade Paths available to them, depending on the car.
Without any previous background history (completely new team), your team has a 65% chance of becoming a factory team. However, the chance can increase or decrease significantly depending on your team's past history. Obviously of course, a Team TOM'S... er, team, has 0% of a Honda or Nissan contract, so don't try to do this. If you do, I get to laugh at you, and let me tell you, my laugh is extremely obnoxious.
There are three teams that are 100% guaranteed to always be factory entries, and you may apply to run them as a team principal in this series. The following entities are the guaranteed factory teams:
- NISMO (Nissan Motorsport), representing... Nissan
- Team TOM'S, representing Toyota
- Team Kunimitsu, representing Honda
Privateer teams are teams not supported directly by manufacturers. They can exist in both Group 1 and Group 2 if they so choose, though this is expensive. Privateer teams have two choices in their Upgrade Path depending on their car selection: Tuner or Homologated.
Upgrade Paths
Over the course of the season, teams will develop their cars to overcome Success Ballast. Upgrades carry over from Season to Season, and eventually all cars will hit an upper development limit. How these teams and cars reach that limit will be determined by what type of Upgrade Path they have.
Note that Upgrades only apply to all of a Team's cars of the same type - if you own say, a Viper and a 350Z, any upgrade you apply to the Viper will NOT pass on to the 350Z.
Tuner
Available primarily to the Japanese Group 2 cars, the Tuner path gives you full control over how you develop your car.
List of Upgrades:
Engine R&D: 400,000 CR. Improve engine efficiency by modifying exhaust system, turbochargers where applicable, valvetrain, and so on. Increases power by 0.5% per Step. Limit 8 Steps per team car.
Chassis R&D: 250,000 CR. Reinforce key weak points in chassis without compromising weight. Reduces center of gravity by 10% each Step. Limit 3 Steps per team car.
Wind Tunnel & CFD Testing: 400,000 CR. Redesign canards, flat floor, rear diffuser, and rear wing for significantly improved aerodynamics. Increases downforce by 3%. Limit 8 Steps per team car.
Big Brake Upgrade: 150,000 CR. Redesign brake discs to improve ventilation, and use advanced materials. Increases braking "torque" by +125 units. Limit 3 Steps per team car.
Advanced Setup Capability: 600,000 CR. Rather than rely on factory stock figures, dimensions, and setup parameters, the team will instead use their knowledge to build track setups of their own. The ability to adjust downforce front and rear, suspension spring stiffness front and rear, front/rear weight distribution, and brake bias are unlocked. One time purchase per team car only.
Homologated
Available to European and American Group 2 cars, the Homologated Upgrade Path is a simpler option aimed at teams who intend on competing in both PES and other competitions using the same cars.
List of Upgrades:
Yearly Upgrade Package: 1,900,000 CR. A full rework from top to bottom of last year's car, including new aerodynamics and engine updates (equivalent to 2 Steps of Tuner upgrades), as well as improvements to the chassis. 6% more downforce, 1% more power, and 10% lower center of gravity. One time purchase per team car per season only.
Advanced Setup Capability: 600,000 CR. Rather than rely on factory stock figures, dimensions, and setup parameters, the team will instead use their knowledge to build track setups of their own. The ability to adjust downforce front and rear, suspension spring stiffness front and rear, front/rear weight distribution, and brake bias are unlocked. One time purchase per team car only.
Note: You may purchase one additional step of Engine R&D and/or Wind Tunnel & CFD Testing, but if you field these cars in another series, they may invalidate your entry, or request that your car run without these extra upgrades.
Factory
The only path available to Factory Group 1 teams, this upgrade path is very unique in that while the upgrade list is the same as the Tuner path, being a Factory team has a unique perk not available to privateers.
What are the benefits of being a Factory team?
As a Factory team, you enjoy the benefit of Cooperative Upgrades. This means that:
- If you purchase an upgrade first, you are the ONLY Factory team for your selected manufacturer that has that upgrade (or level of upgrades) for that round.
- After the round has completed, Factory teams using the same car as you may purchase the same upgrade and level for 50% off.
- After two rounds, that upgrade and level is free for all teams using the same car.
What sucks about being a Factory team?
- If you choose to enter Group 2 as well, you MUST use a car from the same manufacturer.
- You still have to purchase Advanced Setup Capability on your own.
Drivers
Drivers in PES are categorized into four classes: S, A, B, and C. The tiers determine what range of performance parameters your drivers will have. All drivers will be RNG'd within the tier-dependent ranges.
The list of real-world drivers available for PES can be found here (by clicking). Please note: It is OK to have fictional drivers on your team too. If you do not hold their DEC, please contact their DEC owner and negotiate terms with them.
S-tier drivers are the cream of the crop in international and/or Asian-Pacific motorsport, roughly equivalent to a Platinum or Gold driver ranking in present-day WEC. Real-world Super GT and V8 Supercars, ARWS, Alt-F1, and GTR-WC/GTSS champions within the last four canon years are in this tier, with a few real-life exceptions. They cost 500,000 CR to hire for a full season, or 50,000 CR per race if part-time.
A-tier drivers are national stars that have made a name for themselves. Equivalent to Gold tier in present-day WEC, these drivers are plenty skilled, though perhaps not as much so as their S-tier counterparts. Real-world Super GT GT500 and V8 Supercars are common at this tier. Any driver that meets the criteria below is also classed as A-tier. They cost 350,000 CR to hire for a full season, or 35,000 CR per race if part-time.
- ARWS, Alt-F1, and Indycar drivers under 40 years old
- AR3.5, Indy Lights, F5000, F2, and FNippon champions
- GTSS/GTR-WC factory drivers that don't qualify for S-tier eligibility
B-tier drivers are rising stars in the motorsport scene, or perhaps former A and S-tier drivers a bit past their prime. Equivalent to Silver classification in WEC, the younger drivers in this tier typically fill the ranks of Group 2. Any driver that meets one of the following criteria is considered B-tier. They cost 200,000 CR to hire for a full season.
- All AR3.5, Indy Lights, Formula 2, F5000, and fictional FNippon drivers that don't meet A-tier criteria
- AR2.0 champions
- All GTSS/GTR-WC drivers that are NOT considered pay drivers in that canon
- Basically not a pay driver
C-tier drivers are the pay drivers of the series, flat-out. Equivalent to Bronze classification in WEC, a driver that is C-tier will bring 1 million CR to the team that hires them if hired for full-time duties, and pays 10,000 CR for every rival car he or she finishes ahead of.
Team Driver Rules:
- A team may NOT have more than five drivers driving in the same car per Season
- Group 2 teams may NOT hire anyone classed as S-tier
- Group 2 teams may have only ONE A-tier driver per car entered for the Season
- All teams must select which driver they want driving the car for each Round
- Your #1 driver must be selected for at least 3 Rounds. Your #2 driver must also be selected for at least 3 Rounds. This is because rFactor does not simulate driver changes for AI cars, and doing talent file parameter averages of both selected drivers potentially per Round for up to 58 cars would be extremely tiresome.
Sponsors
This section covers signing a title sponsor for your Team. You may have up to ONE paying Sponsor, and this Sponsor determines the main sponsor for all of your cars. By default, a team applying on their own has a 65% chance of signing that Sponsor, unless the prerequisites state otherwise.
The list of available sponsors can be found here (click).
CAUTION: Credit values for initial signing and objectives are not final, and more may be added in development.
Other Rules
As this is essentially Super GT but sorta-kinda international in an alternate universe, some of the series rules are modeled as such, sort of.
Teams will be limited to one of the following car compositions:
2 Group 1s, no Group 2s
1 Group 1, 1 Group 2
Up to three Group 2s
When selecting a car, you must specify a tire manufacturer from the list below. Each of the manufacturers' tires have different characteristics which affect performance relative to qualifying and races.
Yokohama/Advan: Both Groups. A tire developed with prolonged stints in mind, but slightly lower grip hampers it in qualifying.
Bridgestone: Both Groups. An all-round tire with no real major problems.
Michelin: Group 2 only. A tire with slightly higher grip, but drops off slightly worse too.
Falken:Dunlop: Group 2 only. The most grippy of the tires, but drops very sharply about halfway into a stint.
PLEASE NOTE: Your tire supplier must remain the same across all your cars.
Caution: Due to technical and time limitations, the tire's side wall does not match the manufacturer you will select. This will be corrected for future seasons.
Pre-Qualifying: As a Group 2 team, if there more than 45 cars registered to compete, the Group 2 drivers must compete in this session to determine who will advance. There will be a short time trial session to determine starting order, then a 80 kilometer race. The minimum finishing position to advance to the main Qualifying round depends on how many Group 1 cars there are.
Points go 24 (1st) / 22 (2nd) / 20 (3rd) / 18 (4th) / 16 (5th) / 14 (6th) / 12 (7th) / 10 (8th) / 8 (9th) / 6 (10th) / 4 (11th) / 3 (12th) / 2 (On lead lap) / 1 (2+ laps behind). Competing cars are scored by class. There is 1 additional point for qualifying on pole. Each point your team's cars score will be worth 5 thousand CR.
There will be a success ballast system based on finishing position. 1st adds 20 kg, 2nd or 3rd adds 10 kg, and 4th and 5th add 5 kg. Finishing in 6th-10th does not add ballast. Cars that finish outside of the top 10 drop 10 kg, EXCEPT if they fail to finish. Watch out - qualifying in the top three adds another 5 kg of ballast.
Cars in both Group 1 and 2 are capped at a maximum of 50 kg ballast.
The next posts will be containing entry lists, results, and a list of eligible cars (including availability and technical data).
Those who do plan on doing so, please link to a Wiki page so I can determine where your drivers stand. Obviously you need permission from the DEC holder if you want to use a driver that is not yours.
The wording was intended to be that you have to use the same manufacturer, so a Toyota Factory team that's also racing in Group 2 must use the Toyota MR-S, teams fielding the Nissan GT-R must use the 350Z if in Group 2 as well, etc. I have swiftly fixed this to be clearer, thank you!
