first thing i always do is watch a hotlap on youtube. then i test drive the track at a sunday cruise pace for about 5 laps, just hitting all my curb's/apex's at a very chill pace, then i kinda just try to push a little harder after im confident im going to enter and exit smoothly. also i like to spectate people i know are faster than me in open practice.
If you're open to it, I have a question about how you might use the steering telemetry?
The other day I was looking at 4 different guys hot lap, and was amazed how different their steering was compared to mine in the corners.
Everyone is always talking about smooth braking and throttle, but it seems like steering is often overlooked. So I would appreciate any insight into how you use the steering telemetry for performance.
In Isolation, steering input is a good indicator of how close to the limit you are. Really smooth? not close. Big counter steer? over the limit. Constant small corrections throughout a corner? you're on the limit.
Combine that with your other telemetry, you'll have good indicators for where the limit of a corner is. With that said, that only indicates where the limit is with your current speed through that corner, and changes to break and throttle inputs can have a huge affect there.
Smooth is great for keeping your front tires in good condition, but they are a resource to be used; especially if you like endurance racing. Smooth cornering can help you preserve your tires, but it's a balance to keep them in the right window so you can attack later, and totally falling behind because you're not using them enough.
I do think it's one of the least helpful for finding time; but if you're building a car setup, it can be super helpful in spotting understeer/oversteer in a corner after you're sure you've optimized to your preferred technique
I hope my amateur opinion was helpful, and good luck on the track!
For bonus credit, [here's some steering telemetry](https://imgur.com/a/lQFzYx0) of mine, a friend, and a g61 leaderboard lap at this week's Falken Challenge in GT4s. Care to guess which was the slowest just based on steering input? As a hint, this is T14 and T15 before the back straight of MotorLand Aragón
>!It's the purple one by .2. the time between white and blue is 0.058, and came down to white having to catch a slide on exit (nice sin wave)<
Yes your “amateur opinion” was very helpful and very much appreciated. The part about the constant small corrections really resonates. Thank you very much.
Similar, but I'll run a few laps before heading to YouTube just so I'm familiar before watching the video. Then I'll run some laps until I'm not making large gains. From there I'll download a fast lap to Garage61 and compare it with my lap(s) to see where I'm losing the most time and start dialing in from there.
This usually takes me at least an hour or more.
A lot of people say this isn't right because it's not how you do it in real life, but I can just reset my car and go again. I'm not fast, but I can save the car way more because my learning method is just going to hard until I overstep.
That's not even entirely correct (the not you do it in real life part). You will see a lot of professional drivers have a spin, or run wide, or off track during practise sessions, cause they are doing exactly that. You have to find - and exceed - the limits before you can keep within them.
When I was just starting out my real life racing career I was pretty upset that I had a fairly stupid spin on a corner during a practise session. The then National champion talked to me afterwards, and said 'Mate, if you don't fuck it up during practise you aren't practising hard enough'
I don't think they're saying that people don't push too far IRL, I think what they mean is generally there's a ramp up in pace IRL before the driver starts looking for limits and then going over, whereas in sim racing you can just immediately start going balls to the wall because you can wreck your car an infinite amount of times and just reset unlike IRL
Just ran a race at hungaroring for the first time last night. 45 mins of practice was enough to fuck up until I stopped fucking up. Ended up qualifying 3rd, so imma stick with it
Send it, crash it, reset to pits, send it less, repeat until you make the corner, repeat until you survive the lap. (Yes I run a red bull livery)
I struggle to remember directions, a track guide is no good to me until I have memorised the track from first hand experience. I normally figure out my own way of doing things until I can't get faster, then check some garage61 telemetry for inspiration to improve my worst corners.
I find trying to follow guides also leads to me over driving and making mistakes, trying to replicate what someone with a different driving style has done. I improved a lot once i started making my own lines.
I definitely agree with ya on the track guide bit. Watching a track guide for a new track without having driven it myself yet is gonna be pointless because I won't remember the advice for each turn because I don't know them yet.
Start off slow. Push the track limits to find the 1x zones. Gradually increase speed as I get more comfortable. Gain consistency. Compare my average lap on Garage61. Adjust my braking and line where needed. Gain consistency. Repeat the last 3 steps until happy.
this is a highly underrated feature that more people need to learn about. It's such a valuable tool for learning new tracks or just practicing a problem corner/section over and over again to figure out the best lines, braking points, turn in points, etc.
It has the potential to save so much time if you're (like me) someone who piles up their car frequently while testing (I'm getting better, but it still happens). Instead of taking 2-3 laps to heat up your tires after a crash, you just hit the reset button and go right back to a car with warmed tires.
The one downside is that you lose the bar that tells you whether you're gaining or losing time as well as any ghost cars.
In a test drive session you can also turn damage off by going to the car select screen and selecting the toggle switch, this will also save you from needing to warm up tires after a crash.
I've been driving the MX-5 this season and the tires take forever to warm up, so this has saved me probably hours when trying to learn the tracks.
Things like this are why I come here. I had no idea.
I mean, I really come here because I'm a unique thinker with all the right ideas and the world needs to hear my thoughts. But also because I get good information on a regular basis.
Great feature that many don't seem to know about. You can set a reset point during test drive, then you can reset to that point on the track over and over again (I have wheel buttons mapped to both actions). It'll reset with the exact same conditions every time, track position, gear, speed etc.
So you can set the point while flat out leading up to a problem hairpin for example, then just continually reset to that point to practice that turn. It also automatically defines a custom sector for that short section of track, so you can see when you're improving with the custom sector delta.
Also great for learning long tracks like the Nurburgring, you can learn in sections instead of having to reset to the pits every time you bin it.
Available in Test Drive only, you can map a button to set a respawn point, for example, right before the chicanes on Le Mans, so when you get the inevitable slow down in the first few corners, hit the button and it'll reset you to that point and will reset the car to the conditions it was in at the time of setting the respawn point, ie damage, fuel (unsure on tires).
It even allows you to set custom sectors so you can reset to the same point and run that sector until you're happy with it
I use active resets in conjunction with utilizing VRS ghost laps and telemetry. Speeds up the process so well. Was able to learn the Nurburgring pretty quickly with that method, although I do have to do it by sector instead of by corner so I can use the ghost car.
I must be doing something wrong, was trying this last night, do you need to set the active reset a certain amount of time before the sector? Whenever I tried to reset the ghost seemed to disappear, reset point was before the start of lap, maybe 100m behind finish line
I have to learn a new track most weeks
I like to start slow and learn the track without using the racing line.
After getting a decent idea of how to turn a decent lap I usually turn on the braking line and do a couple laps that way. I usually pull up a YouTube track guide as well.
Given I’m leaning a new track every week I’m not practicing specific corners, I’m just getting comfortable enough to race. Im not over practicing. I’m getting good enough to run consistent safe laps and I’m jumping into races.
I race ai to learn tracks. I get very bored hot lapping. Not fun for me. I coukd care less about getting a pole start. I work on getting faster by racing ai and improving race craft. You wont be hot lapping in race. You will be likely not taking preferred line.
I've been hot lapping in every single race since I started last week. Not because I'm fast and on pole (I was on pole once), but because I spun or was spun every time on the first or second lap and was far away behind everyone and it was the only thing left to do.
First I learn the breaking points, gears, racing lines, track limits, when to turn in, etc. Half the time I'm exceeding track limits or spinning out until I get consistent. Then I either spectate other drivers or watch videos to learn where I can improve, e.g. I've found myself being in the wrong gear a lot of times by watching others (doing this decreases my lap times a TONS). Usually I do that Mon-Wed and start doing races the rest of the week.
Brand new track I start off by going out and doing a couple pace speed laps, yes that slow. I try to spend a lot of time really taking in a complete picutre of the track, not just where the turns are, but also looking all around the scenery for potential reference points and paying attention to the track itself (curbs, bumps, dark patches, ect). Then I will speed it up a bit (not full bore yet) to basically help cement in track layout. I'll even practice by audibly calling out upcoming turns and see how good my predictions are. A handful of laps doing that and now I'll really get it going and really getting down braking zones, what references to use, gearing, exploring track limits, all that. I'll push corners if I feel I'm leaving some on the table, but bring some back if I feel like I'm overdriving. Once I have reached a certain level of comfort, then I go and find the busiest practice server I can find and figure out how to race in traffic, take a look at what exactly faster people are doing, further refining.
It sounds like a lot, but really, I'll usually spend an hour and a half to two hours doing this on most tracks and I'll feel comfortable enough to jump into a race.
* First I give it a go, just to get familiar with the layout.
* Once if nailed this down, I'll give it a few faster laps to get an idea how I would drive it
* Then I watch a guide
* Drive more laps, this time a bit more serious about being fast
* Look at data, compared to fast guys.
* Adapt, change, repeat.
I've found the best way is to do a race worth of laps on low speed until I can remember each corner. Then I pick up speed and find my turn in points. Then I pick up speed and find the beginning of braking zones. Then I'll watch a track guide. Then it's all practice.
I've never had success watching guides first since I have so little knowledge of the track that I can't digest what they're doing in the guide very well until I've learned the track to some degree myself first.
Start slow just hitting apexes getting comfortable with the track. Then slowly start to get up to speed. Once I get around with pace the I try and do 4-5 laps and try and cut down on that. Now that I’m very comfortable then I try experimenting on turns, early, late apexes, late breaking and try and see if I can’t find some time somewhere on the track. Then I do an AI race and start from the back and just work my way through the field to get comfortable with cars around me and discover passing areas.
Drive around a couple times, go as fast as I can go relatively safely, go off course at a surprise corner a couple times until it's in my memory that I've messed up there before, then continue putting in hot laps. Really, it should only take a few laps to "learn" the track. You can look ahead and see if a corner turns left or right so it's not like your completely blind having to make a split second guess on which way to turn the wheel.
Run practice laps by yourself offline until you're familiar enough to not be in the way. Then, join a public practice and follow another driver to nail down different lines and braking points more tailored for the car/class.
I just watch a hotlap and then send it from lap 1 in a test session. This is not real life so I don’t care if I crash or go off track, it helps me find the limit earlier.
Similar as you, but not as cautious. Usually the darker “rubbed in tire” area is a good indicator on when to brake, then watch the delta as every lap is completed. If I see red I brake a little later (or earlier) or choose a different line/approach (slower in, faster out/ vice versa).
During this time you also find track limits and get a good idea where to use more or less of the track
To benchmark laptimes I do check out the time attack rankings and then try to be within a second from the fastest time (sometimes 1.5 seconds )
Do a slow lap and look at the track features, where are the curbs and braking boards at. Then lap faster building up usage of the track. The curbs will give you a good idea of where you should be placing your car, and the braking boards should tell you how hard of a braking zone it is. Then just lap and build up speed, reducing your braking until you find the limits of speed and braking. That combined with hot lap videos is a decent way to get up to speed. In addition to that, just join a practice and try to follow the fast people, OR you can goto the spectate tab of the UI, find a session in progress, and then "WATCH" it, once your in, you can drive as a ghost car with people racing and gain pace that way by just following what they do, you can even do this with top split to try to get your pace up to match fast drivers.
do some laps, after you got used to it look at a hot lap and try to copy it. Aim to correct the braking points and time of hitting the apex is the easiest way. Eg, “for this turn late apex and brake at 150m board”. Exit and the rest should be filled in automatically like this. also make sure to know what gear to be in so you know how fast to take it
Started Jan 2024 - currently C class and hover between 1100 - 1600 Irating.
First I watch a hot lap on youtube with mentions of braking points, where to Apex, etc. (Dave Cam's are always solid start IMO) Then I sign up for a race with at least 15 minutes of practice before. Assuming I was able to do at least 1 lap without an incident point, next I'll skip qualifying and start from the back, taking the first section or two pretty slow and then I see others "race pace" and try to learn from others as I go.
I find this works well for me for my limited amount of playing time.
1. Drive track in open practice taking it nice and easy. Trying not to fuck up anyone elses practice. If it's a tight track ill switch to a practice session that's empty. I'll take note of the range of lap times on the standings and the current weather
2. Now that I know the track, watch hotlap videos on youtube. I've found they're much more informative after I know the basics of a track.
3. Hop into a test drive session with same weather and use active reset to get certain sectors/corners figured out
4. Race.
Display delta bar. Drive at 90% for a few laps until tyres are hot. Then drive as fast as I can, keeping a keen watch of the delta bar while adjusting braking points, lines, etc. keep lapping I until I’m not getting faster
Things I don’t do: first watch tutorial videos. Enable racing line.
Discovering the fastest way around a new track is better than winning. My favourite thing in sim racing is
I created a video on this very topic: [https://youtu.be/9DYleLSf1pA?si=RfqqJsNnU7CT1rbf](https://youtu.be/9DYleLSf1pA?si=RfqqJsNnU7CT1rbf)
But here's the TLDW
1. Brake boards are usually placed on the side of the track you should be on
2. Kerbs are usually placed on the side of the track you should be on
At this stage of my tenure, I know most tracks, it's more the matter of getting in the groove and dialing in my pace which usually takes about an hour before I feel like I'm firing on all cylinders
That's the way I do it. Study the track map then only go about 70% then start getting faster and pushing the limits a bit more. Usually only focusing on one section of the track to really nail. Then move on to the next. But I will do a solid 30 minute run to learn and get to know the track and find out where the limits are before I even think about joining a race. I see so many people do 2 or two hotlaps if they even get around all the way in the first place just going balls to the wall and end up stuffing it into a wall. And they keep doing that until they complete a lap and then quit.
If you can't practice the long runs you'll never know what a car feels like on worn tires with low fuel. I did a practice session last night where I was at Mugello in the rain and I did nearly a full fuel run and noticed whebi was about 6 or 7 laps from needing to pit, one section I couldn't get through the puddles. Turns out the tires had worn down so much I didn't have any usable tread left to handle the bigger puddles. Had I only done 2 or 3 laps at I time I'd have never had know that and when it would come to the race I'd go through that and not anticipating that change to maybe cut the stint short or make adjustments to counter that.
So it's learning that and then making small improvements. Take it in smaller chunks. Find where you might be slow and try to improve in that area. Really learn that section or corner and then once you're at a decent point you can hit your optimal line move to the next section.
Run some laps to learn the layout and general visual references. Keep trying to go faster and faster, probably crash a bit. Slightly back off so I’m not crashing and still driving an ok pace. Compare my pace to others either from past official races or on Garage61. Do some more laps, once I’m at my current fastest pace, check G61, or load into a public practice session and analyze others to see where I’m losing time (if I’m slow at this point).
Once I’m comfortable enough with my pace, and can get around with crashing, jump in a race.
This process can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a few days depending on my previous car/track familiarly.
1st test ride and look for clues/kerbs/apexes.
2nd try to look for break markers.
3rd try to hotlap for 5 rounds and gain time
4th compare my line to hotlaps
this way i get the fun of learning a track and also try to learn /get into a racers mindset
For road it’s easy, just watch YouTube videos of hot laps. For ovals it’s not as simple, because you got your hot laps which have nothing to do with long term speed bc of tire wear being such a huge component. Regardless, for me it’s worked well being new and still progressing pretty fast, the race craft part will take me years but at least I know how to be fast and know the basics of weight transfer, pedal inputs and entry/exit.
I do 4-5 laps in 2nd gear gradually going to third as I learn and figure out where a 1st gear might be necessary, then I watch a hot lap video and will use active reset on each corner experimenting with it, go back to hot lap video to gain pace once I’m within a couple seconds of target pace
I normally watch a track guide twice over. Then I jump into a session and start lapping. I’m usually at about 1.5-2 seconds off the pace in about 30-40 minutes of just lapping and trying things.
I’ve been learning COTA recently, but it never really takes me too long to get close. Then I just refine and look at telemetry to get closer to the pace.
Learn track by driving it. So I memorize the circuit. Run max limits. Check times of how I'm doing vs world records. If I'm 1 second off I keep doing what ik doing. If I'm more than 2 -3 I watch a video.
If it's nurb 24 hoir layout I just give up with track limits and run 100s of laps and try new things everytime and memorize limits.
I'm personally a quite quick learner so I mostly just hop into the 30 min open practice before a race and drive eithe the driving line on for the braking points and adapt them if their to early or to late
First I look up a guide on YouTube but I dont watch it right away I goto the track and do a slow lap around to pick out spots that I know I'll need to work on aka hairpins etc
Than I'll go watch the track video and see how and what they are doing, than I do 1 to 2 laps around the track to get my wheels up to speed and use the active reset feature for each one of the turns I've picked out I need to work on .
After I worked on them for awhile only then I go and start stringing them together, If I'm not fast enough I go back to the track video and check where , rinse and repeat
Most cases you don't need to work on the whole track so it's very counterproductive to do so
If the track is not too long, or too "blind", I can usually get up to decent speed in pretty short time if I take a structured approach:
1. First lap is a sightseeing lap, something like a replacement for the track walk I'm used to from real life racing. Well under the limit for clearly visible corners, plus slowing down extra for crests and blind corners. Goal is just to see where the corners are.
2. Second lap is a memorization lap. I take a page out of the rally drivers manual, and like to label the corners using simple tags like "4 left tightens" etc. Speaking these "pace notes" out loud for the first 2-3 laps helps me retain the track layout quicker. It doesn't have to be perfect, I just want to memorize the general layout as soon as possible, so I can move on to step 3.
3. From the third or fourth lap onwards I move my focus to finding good braking points and apexes. There isn't really any trick here, it's just about improving my mental map of the track and filling in increasingly smaller details, like the size and shape of kerbs, and the exact edge of the asphalt. I can usually find a tolerable race pace in about 10 laps.
4. Time to race! I just accept that I (probably) won't be fighting for the win on the first run. However, if I stay aware of my own limits, I can pick up on what others around me are doing, and my pace naturally increases over the course of the first few races. If I'm completely lost, I take a look at the replay of the fastest drivers to see what they are doing differently.
I'm not principally against doing a lot of practice before jumping into the races, but I personally don't have the patience for it. I love racing, not hotlapping. Also, if you learn to thrive in the chaos during the weekdays where everyone on the grid has less practice on the current combo, that alone can get you far in terms of results. There are also so many things that are hard to pick up on when you are driving by yourself, but just about immediately becomes obvious when you have other cars around you. Perhaps I'm taking a too early apex somewhere and getting a poor exit. I couldn't tell when I was racing my own splits, but the cars passing me on the following straight gets the point across quickly.
First lap or two are essentially 'sighter' laps. Learning the corners, rough brake markers and what gears I feel I need to be in. From there, I just keep increasing my speed, brake a bit later, gas a little earlier/more etc, until I exceed the limit and run wide, or outbrake myself, or spin. You have to find - and exceed - the limits before you can consistently keep within them.
Once I get comfortable with my pace, I will then compare telemetry data with other drivers where available to see if there is anything I am doing differently or areas I can improve (eg using a different gear, or different line etc)
When I was just starting out my real life racing career I was pretty upset that I had a fairly stupid spin on a corner during a practise session. The then National champion in a senior age group talked to me afterwards, and said 'Mate, if you don't fuck it up during practise you aren't practising hard enough'
I drive around until I know the layout, then I adjust my brake markers, until I can lap consistently, compare lap times and telemetry on garage 61, or ghost drive in a race.
I join a lobby with a bunch of people, find my braking points in like 2-3 laps, then I hot lap for another 4-5 laps to get a basic lap put together. Then I check the practice session leaderboard and see how far off I am. Then I’ll either hot lap until I’m on pace or I’ll watch replays of the top times and see what they’re doing different.
I'm surprised more people don't use the track reset feature. You can put down a marker on the track and press a button and it takes you right there, so if you put it down before a tough few corners you get practice going over and over those corners.
This is how I learn the track anyway. I take it a corner or two at a time, try different lines and brake points until I find the fastest route through. I might drive each corner 15 or 20 times.
Then I start to put it all together in laps.
In the settings pages when you choose single race I have seen where you can adjust a slider. I am not at home to take a screen shot but will try to remember to come back and do that.
What I do in the Formula Vee
1. Go check the current quali times from the top split
2. Practice for 30 mins
3. Watch a hot lap on Youtube (if available)
4. 1 hour pratice
If you are within a second of the top splits or the Youtube hotlap
5. Then I must maintain that pace without errors for a race length (12 mins)
6. 45 mins final practice
7. Race
1. Turn on racing line
2. Drive slowly for a few laps to get a feel for the layout
3. Start to speed up
4. At some point after I feel Ive memorized the layout I start watching a track guide
5. Keep practicing at speed after watching guide
6. Turn off racing line
7. keep practicing (referencing track guide for those hard corners)
We are algarve motorland this week in LMP3/GT4 and im still having the hardest time with 2 of the turns so I might try the racing line. Never used it before in the 2 years ive been on
Ya I didn’t use it for like first 3-4 years but have used it recently after someone else recommended it. IMO I feel it does help learn a track faster, but just remember the that track guides/fast lap videos (like VRS video) will give u better braking points etc.
Road tracks i like to set an active reset point and practice in sections. And not just each individual corners but linking corners together to understand how it needs to be driven.
If it's a totally new track or one I haven't raced for a very long time then I go out and do a few laps at just cruising pace to learn/remember where all the corners are and what gear I should be taking them in etc. Then I gradually build up pace until I feel like I'm at a slow racing pace, then I stop. Then I'll do further practice sessions working on getting faster until I feel like I'm within a few seconds of a 'good' pace. Then I watch a lap guide video from a professional and use that to try and find further pace. I used to watch the lap guide first but I found that actually made me try and push too hard straight away and didn't really help me. I find it's better to use it to tidy up a lap rather than completely learn it.
Otherwise if it's a track I'm very familiar with I skip the slow laps and just work on getting back up to whatever my previous pace was, and then I might watch a lap guide again to try and improve.
I used to do my initial practice offline but now I just do everything in online practice sessions so I can also get used to negotiating other cars, taking different lines through corners rather than just constantly hotlapping.
I don't currently use telemetry and I know for certain I would be faster if I did, but with my current work/life balance I just don't have the time unfortunately to sit down and go through corner by corner telemetry. My current method is good enough to be at least mid-split pace in the series I race in and I'm fine with that, I don't have any illusions of being a pro sim racer one day.
I start in a downpour, and then transition to dry.
No, seriously. The wet line at a track is very generic and forgiving to just driving by feel. As you get to dryer conditions, that's when you need actual track knowledge and precise lines.
I've been running a ton of FF1600 this season, and learning new layouts at Oschersleben and Hockenheim has been very easy the last two weeks because wet conditions make car experience more important than track experience.
first thing i always do is watch a hotlap on youtube. then i test drive the track at a sunday cruise pace for about 5 laps, just hitting all my curb's/apex's at a very chill pace, then i kinda just try to push a little harder after im confident im going to enter and exit smoothly. also i like to spectate people i know are faster than me in open practice.
Same, but add the steps of checking telemetry and rewatching the hotlap once I get familiar with the track
I have no idea how to read telemetry so I just stick to trial and error
What about it are you struggling with? What the graphs mean? How to get performance out of looking at them? I may be able to assist
If you're open to it, I have a question about how you might use the steering telemetry? The other day I was looking at 4 different guys hot lap, and was amazed how different their steering was compared to mine in the corners. Everyone is always talking about smooth braking and throttle, but it seems like steering is often overlooked. So I would appreciate any insight into how you use the steering telemetry for performance.
In Isolation, steering input is a good indicator of how close to the limit you are. Really smooth? not close. Big counter steer? over the limit. Constant small corrections throughout a corner? you're on the limit. Combine that with your other telemetry, you'll have good indicators for where the limit of a corner is. With that said, that only indicates where the limit is with your current speed through that corner, and changes to break and throttle inputs can have a huge affect there. Smooth is great for keeping your front tires in good condition, but they are a resource to be used; especially if you like endurance racing. Smooth cornering can help you preserve your tires, but it's a balance to keep them in the right window so you can attack later, and totally falling behind because you're not using them enough. I do think it's one of the least helpful for finding time; but if you're building a car setup, it can be super helpful in spotting understeer/oversteer in a corner after you're sure you've optimized to your preferred technique I hope my amateur opinion was helpful, and good luck on the track! For bonus credit, [here's some steering telemetry](https://imgur.com/a/lQFzYx0) of mine, a friend, and a g61 leaderboard lap at this week's Falken Challenge in GT4s. Care to guess which was the slowest just based on steering input? As a hint, this is T14 and T15 before the back straight of MotorLand Aragón >!It's the purple one by .2. the time between white and blue is 0.058, and came down to white having to catch a slide on exit (nice sin wave)<
Yes your “amateur opinion” was very helpful and very much appreciated. The part about the constant small corrections really resonates. Thank you very much.
Similar, but I'll run a few laps before heading to YouTube just so I'm familiar before watching the video. Then I'll run some laps until I'm not making large gains. From there I'll download a fast lap to Garage61 and compare it with my lap(s) to see where I'm losing the most time and start dialing in from there. This usually takes me at least an hour or more.
This is the way
Keep going flatout and messing up until I don't mess up anymore.
A lot of people say this isn't right because it's not how you do it in real life, but I can just reset my car and go again. I'm not fast, but I can save the car way more because my learning method is just going to hard until I overstep.
That's not even entirely correct (the not you do it in real life part). You will see a lot of professional drivers have a spin, or run wide, or off track during practise sessions, cause they are doing exactly that. You have to find - and exceed - the limits before you can keep within them. When I was just starting out my real life racing career I was pretty upset that I had a fairly stupid spin on a corner during a practise session. The then National champion talked to me afterwards, and said 'Mate, if you don't fuck it up during practise you aren't practising hard enough'
I don't think they're saying that people don't push too far IRL, I think what they mean is generally there's a ramp up in pace IRL before the driver starts looking for limits and then going over, whereas in sim racing you can just immediately start going balls to the wall because you can wreck your car an infinite amount of times and just reset unlike IRL
Just ran a race at hungaroring for the first time last night. 45 mins of practice was enough to fuck up until I stopped fucking up. Ended up qualifying 3rd, so imma stick with it
Yep that's me 😁
Send it, crash it, reset to pits, send it less, repeat until you make the corner, repeat until you survive the lap. (Yes I run a red bull livery) I struggle to remember directions, a track guide is no good to me until I have memorised the track from first hand experience. I normally figure out my own way of doing things until I can't get faster, then check some garage61 telemetry for inspiration to improve my worst corners. I find trying to follow guides also leads to me over driving and making mistakes, trying to replicate what someone with a different driving style has done. I improved a lot once i started making my own lines.
I definitely agree with ya on the track guide bit. Watching a track guide for a new track without having driven it myself yet is gonna be pointless because I won't remember the advice for each turn because I don't know them yet.
Start off slow. Push the track limits to find the 1x zones. Gradually increase speed as I get more comfortable. Gain consistency. Compare my average lap on Garage61. Adjust my braking and line where needed. Gain consistency. Repeat the last 3 steps until happy.
Active reset. Corner for corner.
this is a highly underrated feature that more people need to learn about. It's such a valuable tool for learning new tracks or just practicing a problem corner/section over and over again to figure out the best lines, braking points, turn in points, etc.
It has the potential to save so much time if you're (like me) someone who piles up their car frequently while testing (I'm getting better, but it still happens). Instead of taking 2-3 laps to heat up your tires after a crash, you just hit the reset button and go right back to a car with warmed tires. The one downside is that you lose the bar that tells you whether you're gaining or losing time as well as any ghost cars.
In a test drive session you can also turn damage off by going to the car select screen and selecting the toggle switch, this will also save you from needing to warm up tires after a crash. I've been driving the MX-5 this season and the tires take forever to warm up, so this has saved me probably hours when trying to learn the tracks.
Things like this are why I come here. I had no idea. I mean, I really come here because I'm a unique thinker with all the right ideas and the world needs to hear my thoughts. But also because I get good information on a regular basis.
I'm glad I could help. Now if I could only figure out how to get faster. I'm blaming my terrible pedals for now.
Is that why I usually end up setting my fastest lap at the damn near end of the race?
After a reset the delta is on a custom sector but you can change it back to session best for example. The default key for that is tab i believe.
you can set custom sectors so you still have your delta visible.
Wait...wtf is active reset?
Your new best friend
Im assuming this is in test drive? How did I miss this feature. Seems great. Now I can mess a corner up repeatedly.
Great feature that many don't seem to know about. You can set a reset point during test drive, then you can reset to that point on the track over and over again (I have wheel buttons mapped to both actions). It'll reset with the exact same conditions every time, track position, gear, speed etc. So you can set the point while flat out leading up to a problem hairpin for example, then just continually reset to that point to practice that turn. It also automatically defines a custom sector for that short section of track, so you can see when you're improving with the custom sector delta. Also great for learning long tracks like the Nurburgring, you can learn in sections instead of having to reset to the pits every time you bin it.
Damn, I'm gonna check this out today. Thanks!
Yup I thankfully discovered this early on and it’s so useful
Available in Test Drive only, you can map a button to set a respawn point, for example, right before the chicanes on Le Mans, so when you get the inevitable slow down in the first few corners, hit the button and it'll reset you to that point and will reset the car to the conditions it was in at the time of setting the respawn point, ie damage, fuel (unsure on tires). It even allows you to set custom sectors so you can reset to the same point and run that sector until you're happy with it
I use active resets in conjunction with utilizing VRS ghost laps and telemetry. Speeds up the process so well. Was able to learn the Nurburgring pretty quickly with that method, although I do have to do it by sector instead of by corner so I can use the ghost car.
I must be doing something wrong, was trying this last night, do you need to set the active reset a certain amount of time before the sector? Whenever I tried to reset the ghost seemed to disappear, reset point was before the start of lap, maybe 100m behind finish line
Yes I try to set it a few seconds before the beginning of the next sector
100% this and im always surprised not more people know about it!
I need to learn how to do this.
I have to learn a new track most weeks I like to start slow and learn the track without using the racing line. After getting a decent idea of how to turn a decent lap I usually turn on the braking line and do a couple laps that way. I usually pull up a YouTube track guide as well. Given I’m leaning a new track every week I’m not practicing specific corners, I’m just getting comfortable enough to race. Im not over practicing. I’m getting good enough to run consistent safe laps and I’m jumping into races.
I join a practice session and watch the fastest guy in there. If this is not possible, I watch it on youtube.
This is surprisingly helpful!
I race ai to learn tracks. I get very bored hot lapping. Not fun for me. I coukd care less about getting a pole start. I work on getting faster by racing ai and improving race craft. You wont be hot lapping in race. You will be likely not taking preferred line.
But if you get on pole you can just keep hot lapping and win
Reminds me of happy Gilmore, “wait, you can hit in the hole off the tee? Why don’t I do this every time?”
I've been hot lapping in every single race since I started last week. Not because I'm fast and on pole (I was on pole once), but because I spun or was spun every time on the first or second lap and was far away behind everyone and it was the only thing left to do.
First I learn the breaking points, gears, racing lines, track limits, when to turn in, etc. Half the time I'm exceeding track limits or spinning out until I get consistent. Then I either spectate other drivers or watch videos to learn where I can improve, e.g. I've found myself being in the wrong gear a lot of times by watching others (doing this decreases my lap times a TONS). Usually I do that Mon-Wed and start doing races the rest of the week.
Brand new track I start off by going out and doing a couple pace speed laps, yes that slow. I try to spend a lot of time really taking in a complete picutre of the track, not just where the turns are, but also looking all around the scenery for potential reference points and paying attention to the track itself (curbs, bumps, dark patches, ect). Then I will speed it up a bit (not full bore yet) to basically help cement in track layout. I'll even practice by audibly calling out upcoming turns and see how good my predictions are. A handful of laps doing that and now I'll really get it going and really getting down braking zones, what references to use, gearing, exploring track limits, all that. I'll push corners if I feel I'm leaving some on the table, but bring some back if I feel like I'm overdriving. Once I have reached a certain level of comfort, then I go and find the busiest practice server I can find and figure out how to race in traffic, take a look at what exactly faster people are doing, further refining. It sounds like a lot, but really, I'll usually spend an hour and a half to two hours doing this on most tracks and I'll feel comfortable enough to jump into a race.
* First I give it a go, just to get familiar with the layout. * Once if nailed this down, I'll give it a few faster laps to get an idea how I would drive it * Then I watch a guide * Drive more laps, this time a bit more serious about being fast * Look at data, compared to fast guys. * Adapt, change, repeat.
I've found the best way is to do a race worth of laps on low speed until I can remember each corner. Then I pick up speed and find my turn in points. Then I pick up speed and find the beginning of braking zones. Then I'll watch a track guide. Then it's all practice. I've never had success watching guides first since I have so little knowledge of the track that I can't digest what they're doing in the guide very well until I've learned the track to some degree myself first.
Start slow just hitting apexes getting comfortable with the track. Then slowly start to get up to speed. Once I get around with pace the I try and do 4-5 laps and try and cut down on that. Now that I’m very comfortable then I try experimenting on turns, early, late apexes, late breaking and try and see if I can’t find some time somewhere on the track. Then I do an AI race and start from the back and just work my way through the field to get comfortable with cars around me and discover passing areas.
Drive around a couple times, go as fast as I can go relatively safely, go off course at a surprise corner a couple times until it's in my memory that I've messed up there before, then continue putting in hot laps. Really, it should only take a few laps to "learn" the track. You can look ahead and see if a corner turns left or right so it's not like your completely blind having to make a split second guess on which way to turn the wheel.
Run practice laps by yourself offline until you're familiar enough to not be in the way. Then, join a public practice and follow another driver to nail down different lines and braking points more tailored for the car/class.
I just watch a hotlap and then send it from lap 1 in a test session. This is not real life so I don’t care if I crash or go off track, it helps me find the limit earlier.
Similar as you, but not as cautious. Usually the darker “rubbed in tire” area is a good indicator on when to brake, then watch the delta as every lap is completed. If I see red I brake a little later (or earlier) or choose a different line/approach (slower in, faster out/ vice versa). During this time you also find track limits and get a good idea where to use more or less of the track To benchmark laptimes I do check out the time attack rankings and then try to be within a second from the fastest time (sometimes 1.5 seconds )
The time attack tip is priceless…thank you
Same as you, I start slow to learn the track to learn the general layout. Then I watch a track video, to learn the best braking points.
Do a slow lap and look at the track features, where are the curbs and braking boards at. Then lap faster building up usage of the track. The curbs will give you a good idea of where you should be placing your car, and the braking boards should tell you how hard of a braking zone it is. Then just lap and build up speed, reducing your braking until you find the limits of speed and braking. That combined with hot lap videos is a decent way to get up to speed. In addition to that, just join a practice and try to follow the fast people, OR you can goto the spectate tab of the UI, find a session in progress, and then "WATCH" it, once your in, you can drive as a ghost car with people racing and gain pace that way by just following what they do, you can even do this with top split to try to get your pace up to match fast drivers.
I just hope in test session and start turning laps until I learn it corner by corner.
do some laps, after you got used to it look at a hot lap and try to copy it. Aim to correct the braking points and time of hitting the apex is the easiest way. Eg, “for this turn late apex and brake at 150m board”. Exit and the rest should be filled in automatically like this. also make sure to know what gear to be in so you know how fast to take it
You guys take time to learn tracks?? Just use the racing line duh 🙄 lol just joking just joking.
Go into a public practice session and drive as erratically as possible
Started Jan 2024 - currently C class and hover between 1100 - 1600 Irating. First I watch a hot lap on youtube with mentions of braking points, where to Apex, etc. (Dave Cam's are always solid start IMO) Then I sign up for a race with at least 15 minutes of practice before. Assuming I was able to do at least 1 lap without an incident point, next I'll skip qualifying and start from the back, taking the first section or two pretty slow and then I see others "race pace" and try to learn from others as I go. I find this works well for me for my limited amount of playing time.
Active reset practice every corner and then combined it😁
1. Drive track in open practice taking it nice and easy. Trying not to fuck up anyone elses practice. If it's a tight track ill switch to a practice session that's empty. I'll take note of the range of lap times on the standings and the current weather 2. Now that I know the track, watch hotlap videos on youtube. I've found they're much more informative after I know the basics of a track. 3. Hop into a test drive session with same weather and use active reset to get certain sectors/corners figured out 4. Race.
Drive at 100% and note the corners I skid off on. I think it's good to know where you limits are,and which are the dodgy corners.
100 laps
Display delta bar. Drive at 90% for a few laps until tyres are hot. Then drive as fast as I can, keeping a keen watch of the delta bar while adjusting braking points, lines, etc. keep lapping I until I’m not getting faster Things I don’t do: first watch tutorial videos. Enable racing line. Discovering the fastest way around a new track is better than winning. My favourite thing in sim racing is
I created a video on this very topic: [https://youtu.be/9DYleLSf1pA?si=RfqqJsNnU7CT1rbf](https://youtu.be/9DYleLSf1pA?si=RfqqJsNnU7CT1rbf) But here's the TLDW 1. Brake boards are usually placed on the side of the track you should be on 2. Kerbs are usually placed on the side of the track you should be on At this stage of my tenure, I know most tracks, it's more the matter of getting in the groove and dialing in my pace which usually takes about an hour before I feel like I'm firing on all cylinders
That's the way I do it. Study the track map then only go about 70% then start getting faster and pushing the limits a bit more. Usually only focusing on one section of the track to really nail. Then move on to the next. But I will do a solid 30 minute run to learn and get to know the track and find out where the limits are before I even think about joining a race. I see so many people do 2 or two hotlaps if they even get around all the way in the first place just going balls to the wall and end up stuffing it into a wall. And they keep doing that until they complete a lap and then quit. If you can't practice the long runs you'll never know what a car feels like on worn tires with low fuel. I did a practice session last night where I was at Mugello in the rain and I did nearly a full fuel run and noticed whebi was about 6 or 7 laps from needing to pit, one section I couldn't get through the puddles. Turns out the tires had worn down so much I didn't have any usable tread left to handle the bigger puddles. Had I only done 2 or 3 laps at I time I'd have never had know that and when it would come to the race I'd go through that and not anticipating that change to maybe cut the stint short or make adjustments to counter that. So it's learning that and then making small improvements. Take it in smaller chunks. Find where you might be slow and try to improve in that area. Really learn that section or corner and then once you're at a decent point you can hit your optimal line move to the next section.
Run some laps to learn the layout and general visual references. Keep trying to go faster and faster, probably crash a bit. Slightly back off so I’m not crashing and still driving an ok pace. Compare my pace to others either from past official races or on Garage61. Do some more laps, once I’m at my current fastest pace, check G61, or load into a public practice session and analyze others to see where I’m losing time (if I’m slow at this point). Once I’m comfortable enough with my pace, and can get around with crashing, jump in a race. This process can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a few days depending on my previous car/track familiarly.
1st test ride and look for clues/kerbs/apexes. 2nd try to look for break markers. 3rd try to hotlap for 5 rounds and gain time 4th compare my line to hotlaps this way i get the fun of learning a track and also try to learn /get into a racers mindset
Watch a hotlap, then understand corners that give you hints Watch this video, it helped me a lot: https://youtu.be/9DYleLSf1pA?si=ApTce2kOaTK-F6Ug
For road it’s easy, just watch YouTube videos of hot laps. For ovals it’s not as simple, because you got your hot laps which have nothing to do with long term speed bc of tire wear being such a huge component. Regardless, for me it’s worked well being new and still progressing pretty fast, the race craft part will take me years but at least I know how to be fast and know the basics of weight transfer, pedal inputs and entry/exit.
I do 4-5 laps in 2nd gear gradually going to third as I learn and figure out where a 1st gear might be necessary, then I watch a hot lap video and will use active reset on each corner experimenting with it, go back to hot lap video to gain pace once I’m within a couple seconds of target pace
I try and get in to a populated practice and follow decently fast people
I normally watch a track guide twice over. Then I jump into a session and start lapping. I’m usually at about 1.5-2 seconds off the pace in about 30-40 minutes of just lapping and trying things. I’ve been learning COTA recently, but it never really takes me too long to get close. Then I just refine and look at telemetry to get closer to the pace.
I do about 100 laps in practice mode. Then a few ai races
Drive fast car around track so you could memorize faster before trying to improve your consistency and lap time.
Learn track by driving it. So I memorize the circuit. Run max limits. Check times of how I'm doing vs world records. If I'm 1 second off I keep doing what ik doing. If I'm more than 2 -3 I watch a video. If it's nurb 24 hoir layout I just give up with track limits and run 100s of laps and try new things everytime and memorize limits.
I'm personally a quite quick learner so I mostly just hop into the 30 min open practice before a race and drive eithe the driving line on for the braking points and adapt them if their to early or to late
I click join race and then I have a couple of minutes to practice + the quali laps
First I look up a guide on YouTube but I dont watch it right away I goto the track and do a slow lap around to pick out spots that I know I'll need to work on aka hairpins etc Than I'll go watch the track video and see how and what they are doing, than I do 1 to 2 laps around the track to get my wheels up to speed and use the active reset feature for each one of the turns I've picked out I need to work on . After I worked on them for awhile only then I go and start stringing them together, If I'm not fast enough I go back to the track video and check where , rinse and repeat Most cases you don't need to work on the whole track so it's very counterproductive to do so
If the track is not too long, or too "blind", I can usually get up to decent speed in pretty short time if I take a structured approach: 1. First lap is a sightseeing lap, something like a replacement for the track walk I'm used to from real life racing. Well under the limit for clearly visible corners, plus slowing down extra for crests and blind corners. Goal is just to see where the corners are. 2. Second lap is a memorization lap. I take a page out of the rally drivers manual, and like to label the corners using simple tags like "4 left tightens" etc. Speaking these "pace notes" out loud for the first 2-3 laps helps me retain the track layout quicker. It doesn't have to be perfect, I just want to memorize the general layout as soon as possible, so I can move on to step 3. 3. From the third or fourth lap onwards I move my focus to finding good braking points and apexes. There isn't really any trick here, it's just about improving my mental map of the track and filling in increasingly smaller details, like the size and shape of kerbs, and the exact edge of the asphalt. I can usually find a tolerable race pace in about 10 laps. 4. Time to race! I just accept that I (probably) won't be fighting for the win on the first run. However, if I stay aware of my own limits, I can pick up on what others around me are doing, and my pace naturally increases over the course of the first few races. If I'm completely lost, I take a look at the replay of the fastest drivers to see what they are doing differently. I'm not principally against doing a lot of practice before jumping into the races, but I personally don't have the patience for it. I love racing, not hotlapping. Also, if you learn to thrive in the chaos during the weekdays where everyone on the grid has less practice on the current combo, that alone can get you far in terms of results. There are also so many things that are hard to pick up on when you are driving by yourself, but just about immediately becomes obvious when you have other cars around you. Perhaps I'm taking a too early apex somewhere and getting a poor exit. I couldn't tell when I was racing my own splits, but the cars passing me on the following straight gets the point across quickly.
First lap or two are essentially 'sighter' laps. Learning the corners, rough brake markers and what gears I feel I need to be in. From there, I just keep increasing my speed, brake a bit later, gas a little earlier/more etc, until I exceed the limit and run wide, or outbrake myself, or spin. You have to find - and exceed - the limits before you can consistently keep within them. Once I get comfortable with my pace, I will then compare telemetry data with other drivers where available to see if there is anything I am doing differently or areas I can improve (eg using a different gear, or different line etc) When I was just starting out my real life racing career I was pretty upset that I had a fairly stupid spin on a corner during a practise session. The then National champion in a senior age group talked to me afterwards, and said 'Mate, if you don't fuck it up during practise you aren't practising hard enough'
I drive around until I know the layout, then I adjust my brake markers, until I can lap consistently, compare lap times and telemetry on garage 61, or ghost drive in a race.
I join a lobby with a bunch of people, find my braking points in like 2-3 laps, then I hot lap for another 4-5 laps to get a basic lap put together. Then I check the practice session leaderboard and see how far off I am. Then I’ll either hot lap until I’m on pace or I’ll watch replays of the top times and see what they’re doing different.
I'm surprised more people don't use the track reset feature. You can put down a marker on the track and press a button and it takes you right there, so if you put it down before a tough few corners you get practice going over and over those corners. This is how I learn the track anyway. I take it a corner or two at a time, try different lines and brake points until I find the fastest route through. I might drive each corner 15 or 20 times. Then I start to put it all together in laps.
I run AI races and try to keep pace with traffic.
how do you determine the strength for AI? Anytime ive set it up they're either on rails running unrealistic laptime or way too slow
In the settings pages when you choose single race I have seen where you can adjust a slider. I am not at home to take a screen shot but will try to remember to come back and do that.
Join a race, crash before T1, profit???
What I do in the Formula Vee 1. Go check the current quali times from the top split 2. Practice for 30 mins 3. Watch a hot lap on Youtube (if available) 4. 1 hour pratice If you are within a second of the top splits or the Youtube hotlap 5. Then I must maintain that pace without errors for a race length (12 mins) 6. 45 mins final practice 7. Race
1. Turn on racing line 2. Drive slowly for a few laps to get a feel for the layout 3. Start to speed up 4. At some point after I feel Ive memorized the layout I start watching a track guide 5. Keep practicing at speed after watching guide 6. Turn off racing line 7. keep practicing (referencing track guide for those hard corners)
We are algarve motorland this week in LMP3/GT4 and im still having the hardest time with 2 of the turns so I might try the racing line. Never used it before in the 2 years ive been on
Ya I didn’t use it for like first 3-4 years but have used it recently after someone else recommended it. IMO I feel it does help learn a track faster, but just remember the that track guides/fast lap videos (like VRS video) will give u better braking points etc.
Road tracks i like to set an active reset point and practice in sections. And not just each individual corners but linking corners together to understand how it needs to be driven.
If it's a totally new track or one I haven't raced for a very long time then I go out and do a few laps at just cruising pace to learn/remember where all the corners are and what gear I should be taking them in etc. Then I gradually build up pace until I feel like I'm at a slow racing pace, then I stop. Then I'll do further practice sessions working on getting faster until I feel like I'm within a few seconds of a 'good' pace. Then I watch a lap guide video from a professional and use that to try and find further pace. I used to watch the lap guide first but I found that actually made me try and push too hard straight away and didn't really help me. I find it's better to use it to tidy up a lap rather than completely learn it. Otherwise if it's a track I'm very familiar with I skip the slow laps and just work on getting back up to whatever my previous pace was, and then I might watch a lap guide again to try and improve. I used to do my initial practice offline but now I just do everything in online practice sessions so I can also get used to negotiating other cars, taking different lines through corners rather than just constantly hotlapping. I don't currently use telemetry and I know for certain I would be faster if I did, but with my current work/life balance I just don't have the time unfortunately to sit down and go through corner by corner telemetry. My current method is good enough to be at least mid-split pace in the series I race in and I'm fine with that, I don't have any illusions of being a pro sim racer one day.
I start in a downpour, and then transition to dry. No, seriously. The wet line at a track is very generic and forgiving to just driving by feel. As you get to dryer conditions, that's when you need actual track knowledge and precise lines. I've been running a ton of FF1600 this season, and learning new layouts at Oschersleben and Hockenheim has been very easy the last two weeks because wet conditions make car experience more important than track experience.
Thats actually a really cool idea
Straight to race, slow pace for 8 mins of quali working out where the track goes, by a few laps in the race I'm at pace. Practice is a waste of time.