Big Brother Program

Since I rejoined iRacing a week ago and started to drive the Corvette, I was thinking about finding a "big brother". An experienced iRacing driver, who would answer at least some of my many questions, would be willing to provide some replays or some advice. Is there anyone driving the Corvette, whou would be willing to help? I will try not to bother you too often :D

Other players might be interested in this service as well. From what I've seen here on RaceDepartment so far, there are many beginners like me and this seems a good idea to improve.

// What exactly is a fast driver in my opinion? Since I train Watkins Glen now, let me make a example. I imagine that such a player would be able to drive around 1:40-41 at Classic Boot configuration, fixed setup.
 
Hard to say what a fast time is in the fixed setups. Frankly i don´t even understand why those series exist.
It´s only a false belief to think that the playing field are levelled as most people don´t take into account driving styles when discussing that matter. Someone always will benefit from driving what is most of the time deformed setups.

Go to the forum and get yourself some setups for Watkins. Use those setups and when you get within one second of the world record, then you can call yourself a slow fast guy.

Aliens (these guys push the border on what is possible in terms of time, they are not many so the WR on most series are from fast slow guys)

Fast slow guy (these are truly fast guys, but not super quick when compared to a true "alien"

Slow Fast guy (Sometimes i´m in this bracket but with a sh*tload of practice and a stellar setup, this ground is within a second of the world records most of the time.


This is how i would rate "quickness" in iRacing.

So for you, to get a good picture on where you are, download all NTM Vette setups you can find for Watkins.
Drive them all until you find one that fits your driving style. Then practice like hell and see if you can get down to this time.

1:38.159 this is the official world record in the Vette on Watkins.

If you can´t get close then save a replay of your lap, post it here and i´ll see what i can do to help you.
 
Yes, I look through setups all the time. What bothers me the most right now is not the setup, it is the line, apexes, shifting gears and other stuff. I don't think the setup limits me, I wanted to get at least to consistent .42 with a fixed setup. When I look for WRs, I usually look at the bottom of the table since these are probably not aliens. My goal is to get low 41s in practice, I'd be very happy ith that. Right now, since I bought Corvette just a few days ago, I started to train for the upcoming C class GT series.

I managed to get rid of those 1x offroads and I've already driven low 1.43 with fixed setup. Since I try to be the fastest, I still haven't achieved the consisteny I'd like to have, I usually end up spinning every two or three laps, which is very bad and I'm aware of it, but this will get only better (it was similar while driving Mustang). I'm not an idiot and I know my adaptation to GTs will take a lot of time, so I want to practice as much as possible until the new season starts.

This is my problem right now:

I'm dying for a replay of Watkins Glen Classic Boot (well, Boot might be sufficient), at least low .41. I'm quite unsure about proper shifting at turns 10 and 11 and I dont know the racing line as well. I looked at Youtube, but there are only videos showing the OTM, which is absolutely different compared to the NTM of Corvette.
 
Ok but from my understanding the GT series next season is open setup.
By running a fixed setup in that you are just making yourself unnecessary slow. we are talking seconds here..

Open setups are (by law almost) seconds faster then a fixed one. that isn´t about lines or anything but the amount of speed you can carry through corners etc.

You can take OTM videos and use those for guides, the racing line is the same everytime.
As far as shifting that depends on your setup. But a general rule with the Vette is take the corner one gear higher then you really think.

The car as so much torque that it will just pull you out of corners instead of shifting halway out of the corner.

really the best thing would be if you posted a replay of your fastest lap.
 
Yes, I promise I will post one tomorrow when I get a good time.

I did not know that the differences might be so huge. I knew that modified setup will be faster, but I thought it is half a second tops. I haven't made many changes to my setup so far. I have only changed the camber to more positive because the outer tire readings were getting too cold in comparison to the rest of the wheel.

I know about the very flat torque curve of Corvette. I usually shift whe the green Shift light (the led diode, not the one of the rev counter) comes up. I usually downshift in such a way that I can upshift when I exit the corner. My replay will probably show better. From your experience I would say I should take corner 10 in 4th gear and Outer ring (corner 5) as well. I suck at exits the most I would say and thats the reason why I spin often. I have to get used to the fact that Corvette has around 500 bhp per tone, improve my racing line and I hope I'll get below 1.42 ASAP.
 
Yea it´s that big of a difference.
Fixed setups are quick work by the Staff to get setups out for peple to run the car without making your own.
While on the other hand you have open setups, most of them has been tweaked by Atlas telemetry to get very good and fast setups.

Yea i shift when the little led pops up as well.

For shifting, just make sure you don´t shift up mid-exit of a corner. Hard to say what gear you should be in but i look forward to the video tomorrow, makes things easier :)
 
All right, here it is.

I didn't have much time, but I managed to drive a reasonable time.

janroman.cz/iracing/Watkins.rpy

It's my best so far (1:43.523) and I a aware that I made a major mistake in turn no. 8 and many other minor mistakes. I'm perfectly sure I am able to do low 1.42 since my Optimal lap is now 1:42.276. I know I usually make a mistake or two even in a fast lap, but I would say I have to get used to the Corvette more (I make mistakes far too often), I've been driving it for a couple of days so far. I also have to recalibrate my brakes a bit as well. I made the rubber brake mod for my G25 as suggested here on RD and its amazing. Even though, Corvette locks its brakes very very easily so I drive with brake factor around 3 and I'm even thinking about getting it higher. Fortunately, I managed to get rid of most of the locking now.
 
T1 - Bit of an early entry. Wait slightly longer before you turn into the corner so you hit the apex and can firmly plant the throttle out of the corner.
Remember that there´s a long long "straight" after that so your only focus should be to get the power down as early and as hard as possible.
And also brake slightly later. It is possible if you brake completely straight and just wait slightly longer before turning in.

"The Esses" - They are taken completely flat, you should not lift there, you probably lose atleast half a second just by lifting there.
Not only are you lifting but you are lifting while in a hill so the effect becomes even greater.

If you can´t take it flat without spinning then you must get an open setup done by a member. I´m pretty sure you are running a fixed set in this lap judging from the brake bias (which if you have problems with, pull down to 59-60 or so instead of 63.
And you also know this but stay off the curbs from T1 to the next braking zone :) Nice fly time there for a second though :D

T5 - You are braking slightly to early and you are turning into the corner slightly to early.
Brake later, brake straight ahead, then let her slide into the apex of the corner.

I also noticed your throttle blipping, it´s way to soft. you need more throttle and quicker, more aggressive blips so you make sure that the gearbox carries the same speed as the rear wheels. If you blip to little you will lose traction at the rear of the car.

So more aggressive, almost slapping the throttle quickly during downshifts.

As you hit the apex you took it very gently out of the corner. Use more power and use all of the track available.
If the car wants to rotate on you just by touching the throttle then try and find a better setup with a more solid rear end.

You should touch or at the very least be an inch from the white curb on the outside of the corner.
when you have driven that far out, that´s when you start moving across the track to setup for the left hander.

T6 - You are almost braking for the corner while being at the middle of the track, use more of the road and be more to the right hand side of the track.
And again, brake slightly later, a little bit harder and most important, brake in a straight line.
You are also turning into the corner to early, turn in much later so your apex is almost at the end of the corner.

So you don´t have to kiss the curb all the way in the corner, brake to the right, turn in gently, then as you get further into the corner you turn more and more until you hit your late apex point.
This is to allow for getting on the throttle early as there´s a bit of a straight coming up before the uphill right hander.

T7 - This one is fairly easy but first to point out some things.

Braking to early, i know you still might have issues with braking but just so you know that you can go deeper, the car can go deeper into the braking zone. Not much but it´s time to be gained :)

Ok so now to the easy part of the corner. Notice the concrete in the corner.
It starts out where you brake then it slowly tightens at the end of the corner.
Bit hard to explain but if we take the edges of this concrete, you have one outer edge and one inner edge.
Your car should be following that concrete and your right side wheels should be on the inside of the right "strip"

If you follow that pavement you will find yourself getting on the power much earlier and much harder, this is crucial as you have another straight following which also is slightly uphill for a moment.

T8 - Turned in too early, wait slightly longer then turn the car in. Follow the concrete out of the corner.

T9 - Nice entry! This corner is very special as you can pretty much choose what line to take here.

Either you take it very tight or you take a wider entry and tighten it up slightly on the exit.
You lost the rear out of the corner but i know that was just a mistake, like we all do :)

T10 - This corner is not perfectly "round" or shaped very good but this is actually good for us because then we have a nice place to aim our car at when passing by.

There´s a little kink in the curb which you should aim for as your apex.
Notice also how far to the right you are already before the corner.
You should turn in much later, then hit that little kink and then exit the corner as hard as you can.

At the exit you should ride up onto the curb to the left and touch the wall if you can. That way you know you took every little last bit of the tarmac there :)

No but you should be so close to that wall that you cannot fit your finger between the car and the wall. That is key to getting as much speed as you can with you out on the straight ahead.

1594540431ebaddbf68e5a0e86590659ccf3cb3d.jpg
 
If you have a smart phone i would suggest reading all of this while in the car. That way you don´t have to remember everything.

If you still are having issues i could help you by joining a server and we could do some laps close to each other, that way you can see better what i mean and how you should take certain corners.

I think also that by only keeping to the line (not doing anything else like braking later, straighter, getting on power earlier etc) you can probably cut a second of your time :)
 
One of the biggest things to gain speed in the Corvette is the old saying "easy in fast out". If you slide at all your corner speed is going to go down. You can not slide the rear of these cars and expect to gain time. Also this car likes low RPM, it has the torque to lug it out of the turns. I haven't watched the replay yet but those are some tips I can give you.
 
I can'teven express how grateful I am for so detailed explanation, thank you very very much!

My first and most important question. I quite struggle with proper shifting during T10 and T11. Should I keep in third all the time (which hit rev limiter sometimes, which is really bad) or should I upshift to fourth and then downshift again very quickly? Different gearing might solve my problem, I'll see what better drivers came up with.

Today, during my testing, I've already found out a couple of things you mentioned. I realised that turns 2, 3 and 4 are very very crucial in terms of gathering enough speed for the straight and that I should use full throttle there. I definitely will examine another drivers' setups, because I am aware of some baseline setup problems like wrong camber or strange differential settings. I suspect that loosening the diff might help in corner exits as the inner tires won't slide so much.

I also understood why there are so many concrete patches in the road. The track was simply destroyed, because that's the perfect line and I will definitely stick to them.

I don't use all the road, I admit. I think this is the major problem now together with right turn-ins and apexes and I have to focus on it. I usually turn in very quickyl as you said and that's the problem. I will definitely try to get my racing line better. The racing line itself might get me to low 42s, maybe even lower.

Tha car setup will be crucial as far as exit handling is concerned. Right now, too much oversteer followed by spin is 90% of my incidents right now. I am the most afraid of T1 (which will get better as I improve my racing line) and T9, which I find really distrubing. Car is very twitchy there and I don't really use the outer curb there. As for brake bias... I've been going through iRacing forums to gather some information about Corvette. People said that lower brake bias will tend to lock rears resulting in a spin. I will definitely lower brake bias, that will help to prevent locking for sure, but I am afraid not to lower it too much. I have to test it thoroughly.

They also said that downshift blips should be minimal in order not to put too much force on the gearbox, so I am quite confused now. But I believe what you say, I will try to blip more.

I haven't had much time for testing during this week, I haven't driven more than four or five hours so far since I am preparing for very important exams. I will try to improve what you pointed out (aboslutely astonishing work, really, exactly what I need). Thank you very much.

2Greg: Thank you as well. I am aware that sliding GTs is really no good and I try very hard to avoid it. When I downshift before enetring a turn, I usually downshift in order not to see any rev counter lights during the corner. Replay shows it better I would say. Together with racing line, this will be my biggest concern right now since I want to prepare for new season in the best possible way.
 
I can'teven express how grateful I am for so detailed explanation, thank you very very much!
Anytime, anytime.. :)

My first and most important question. I quite struggle with proper shifting during T10 and T11. Should I keep in third all the time (which hit rev limiter sometimes, which is really bad) or should I upshift to fourth and then downshift again very quickly? Different gearing might solve my problem, I'll see what better drivers came up with.
Should first mention that my corner numbers might be slightly off for some reason, T10 is T11 but you´ll get which corner i´m talking about.

Stay in fourth all the way for now. the car isn´t as nervous when low in the rpm´s so the car is easier to handle.
If the car bogs down then you might want to look at another setup, an open one :)
fixed ones are 99% of the time setups made in a hurry by some guy who really haven´t driven the car once.

Today, during my testing, I've already found out a couple of things you mentioned. I realised that turns 2, 3 and 4 are very very crucial in terms of gathering enough speed for the straight and that I should use full throttle there. I definitely will examine another drivers' setups, because I am aware of some baseline setup problems like wrong camber or strange differential settings. I suspect that loosening the diff might help in corner exits as the inner tires won't slide so much.
Yea and remember for T2 to follow it more then you want. Don´t turn left into T3 instantly.
If you wait a little you will automatically make T3 a little more straight.

get 4-5 setups, do lots of laps in all of them, you will feel when you find the right setup. It just feels "right" so you can push the car, you can be aggressive, you have confidence in the car, you can talk to her better :)

Setups i suck at, i´m a driver not engineer :) I wish i knew though!

I also understood why there are so many concrete patches in the road. The track was simply destroyed, because that's the perfect line and I will definitely stick to them.
Yea they are a big help no doubt :)

I don't use all the road, I admit. I think this is the major problem now together with right turn-ins and apexes and I have to focus on it. I usually turn in very quickyl as you said and that's the problem. I will definitely try to get my racing line better. The racing line itself might get me to low 42s, maybe even lower.
This has a lot to do with setups, when you have a good setup you can trust the car, you just "know" the car will stick.
Getting the right comfortable setup that you can push is worth seconds. Not second but seconds :)

Tha car setup will be crucial as far as exit handling is concerned. Right now, too much oversteer followed by spin is 90% of my incidents right now. I am the most afraid of T1 (which will get better as I improve my racing line) and T9, which I find really distrubing. Car is very twitchy there and I don't really use the outer curb there. As for brake bias... I've been going through iRacing forums to gather some information about Corvette. People said that lower brake bias will tend to lock rears resulting in a spin. I will definitely lower brake bias, that will help to prevent locking for sure, but I am afraid not to lower it too much. I have to test it thoroughly.
The reason you are having these problems is because the setup is sh*t basically.
Throw that setup away and get setups from users. They use telemetry to set their cars up. This make a world of difference.

They also said that downshift blips should be minimal in order not to put too much force on the gearbox, so I am quite confused now. But I believe what you say, I will try to blip more.
I think they mean not to downshift to early. This will destroy the gearbox but if you downshift at the right time and downshift to the right gear then the gearbox will hold no matter what you throw at it.
It´s when you for example sit in 4th then pop it into 2nd that the rear wheels will lock and you shred your gearbox.

For blipping don´t use much more throttle but slightly more. and sort of slap the throttle.
it should be a quick slap, don´t worry in the beginning about using to much throttle but use slightly more then what you do now.
And much quicker.

Here´s a lap from me, this lap was 0.6 seconds of the World Records when i did it :p
Listen to how i blip the throttle,



I haven't had much time for testing during this week, I haven't driven more than four or five hours so far since I am preparing for very important exams. I will try to improve what you pointed out (aboslutely astonishing work, really, exactly what I need). Thank you very much.

No problem, and remember, we can meet up in the game some day if you want and we can do some laps, you will find time in no time.
 
In that lap, also focus on how much of the track i use.

I use every single bit of tarmac i can find, if there´s a curb at the end i´ll take that as well as you can see after the carousell.
Focus on hitting every single apex and holding your line and you will see your times drop like a rock.

(i messed up the last two corners so ignore that :p)
 
All right. I managed to get another hour of testing. I took a user modified setup from iRacing forums. The author claimed he did 1.39.9 in Q and 1.41-42 in race. I found it quite nice, at this point I won't make any modifications to it.

I managed to drive under 1.43 (wooho), 1:42.904. Still amazingly slow, but I know it'll get better. Please don't concentrate on things like early braking, poor blips and so on, my main goal is to improve my racing line drastically. I hope I am better than yesterday, but I found new ways of entering corners and when I get used to them, I'll become more consistent for sure (T1 is no longer making problems due to later turn-in).

janroman.cz/iracing/Watkins2.rpy

While I was testing, this strange thing happened to me (look at the end of the replay):

janroman.cz/iracing/WatkinsMistake.rpy

I am not sure what happened. I was looking at replay and haven't found anything so far. I was thinking about locking up rears, but it doesn't seem to be the case. The only thing that might be the mistake is my small blip, but it's a really strange thing indeed. Are you able to help?

If I manage to drive under 1.42, I will be really satisfied and probably not completely hopeless. When I drive a good time, I have to focus on consistency really since spins are still a problem. New setup seems to be a bit better at it however.
 
Nicely done! T1 looked very good line-wise, T2 you did what i said and stayed with it for slightly longer.

Long downhill right hander T5 i believe you also did great, i´m not sure but try and stay in 4th for T6.
I noticed you had to shift up in corner-exit. Also see if you can take a wider line.
Then just tighten it up at the end of the corner.

T8 - turned in to early. Stay to the left for a little longer then turn the car in to apex.

How was T10 and T11? I can´t see the delta but it looks like the car was more then capable of pulling you out of the corners quickly.
Try and position yourself more to the left before entering T11, really maximize the width of the track.

-
If you want i can host a session later and we can do some more practical practice instead.
You just follow behind and we start out slow then increase the pace lap by lap.
 
For T6 imagine taking it sort of like this. It´s a shitty illustration but it´s just to give you an idea,




You want to get on the power as early and as straight as possible so you have to give up the "normal" apex and cut the "new" apex much later.

Here´s with what you would call a normal line through a normal corner,



As you can see on entry the blue line is much quicker but because there´s a straight after corner it´s better to take the red line, get on the power much earlier and take with you a lot of speed out on the straight.

The red line is a bit wonky but you get the idea.
 
interesting conversation guys.I wonder what would be a fast lap around LimeRock in the mazda cup ,clutching and blipping?...in other words: semi-shifting gets me early 59's ,so the guys doing 58's must be blipping?
 
I understand what I am supposed to do in T6, your illustrations are perfect. I knew it all along, it's just some kind of mental block, but this will go away. "Slow in, fast out" applies everywhere and it is really noticeable, especially in T1, T5 and T11. I think T10 can be a bit faster, I am a bit afraid of loosing the rear while on the outer curb. T11 was rather good, but I might have accelerated a bit sooner.

I now understand (not that I can do it all the time) proper lines everywhere, even thought T9 is a bit confusing. I usually try to turn a bit later than my senses advise, but I go too wide sometimes. It's a mit similar to T6 and the line is probably a bit similar.

Thank you for fabulous illustrations! I need advice like this so much, I would say I've learned more during these two days than ever before. Thank you.
 
Let me ask a question related to Ivan's question. How is it in real Corvette C6.R? Is the shifting mechanism the same or is it somehow different? I saw a video of Corvette with classic heel-toe, but I'm not quite sure it was C6.R (2005-2009 model). It's a shame that Corvette has a sequential gearbox - well, i understand that so powerful GT cars can't really work with H-pattern, but I miss heel-toe a bit, it's a great fun to drive with.

And back to my topic. I will have some time tomorrow so I am going to try sub 1:42.5, but I will have just about an hour, so I have to focus a lot. When I started to drive Mustang, something cool happened. I was running slow times for about two weeks when I started, but I just woke up one day and was running one second faster all the time, very consistently. I hope something similar happens with my Corvette :D
 

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