Coaching session

[TaknMdwN]

He all,

Im wondering if there is a good sim racer here, who wouldnt mind to spend 15 min or so, spectating me and giving some tips on what you think is the thing i should work on the most?

I know alot about sim racing and racing in general, but there are just a few things that I would like to discuss with some good drivers.

We could join one of our servers and be on teamspeak.

Please know that im not looking for any easy way. I did lots of research about sim racing and racing in general.

Weight transfer
Smooth driving
Trailbreaking
Slow in fast out
etc etc

Would be very much appreciated!

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Once you are happy that you have reached a point that your technique & style are where your most comfortable and in control, then start to tweak and play with car setups, there's little benefit in messing with setups if your not comfortable with your technique.

I almost agree there - but tweaking the car's balance a little so it feels comfortable to your style will give you way more confidence to push harder. I'm not talking about telemetry levels of finding more speed, just some fore-aft balancing if something feels sufficiently off that you're constantly nervous about a part of a corner.

 

[BhZ]

I almost agree there - but tweaking the car's balance a little so it feels comfortable to your style will give you way more confidence to push harder. I'm not talking about telemetry levels of finding more speed, just some fore-aft balancing if something feels sufficiently off that you're constantly nervous about a part of a corner.

If with the default setup you feel constantly nervous about something, it's not the car that needs a tweak but it's your driving tecnique that is not good enough. This is the reason why i always suggest to tweak after you've learned how to drive, otherwise you will end up trying to fix your driving problems with the setup.

 

[RasmusP]

If with the default setup you feel constantly nervous about something, it's not the car that needs a tweak but it's your driving tecnique that is not good enough. This is the reason why i always suggest to tweak after you've learned how to drive, otherwise you will end up trying to fix your driving problems with the setup.

It sounds brutally harsh but from my own learning curve: you are completely right! There is no "personal driving style" before you reach within 0.5s of someone like you for example!
There is just "trying to fix your driving with a setup".

 

[Kek700]

Not 100% happy with the above statement. It does depend on the specific car.

 

[RasmusP]

Not 100% happy with the above statement. It does depend on the specific car.

Some default setups are off, true. The tatuus is the only example I know about though. It needs a lot more front wing and a lowered front arb. But the rest is perfect at default.
Can you give another example?

 

[BhZ]

Not 100% happy with the above statement. It does depend on the specific car.

I still have to find an AC car that is impossible to drive with the default setup. The tatuus has a weird setup, far from optimal, but it's just understeery. That doesn't mean you can't drive it on default. What i see though is a lot of inexperienced people playing with the setup when they are 5 secs off the pace, with no improvement on their time and possibly with a worse setup than the one they started with.
Everyone here on Racedepartment talks about driving style, but most people confuse that with driving tecnique. How can anyone know what they like to drive on the limit if they don't drive yet to the limit?

 

[Richard Dastardly]

If you're 5s off pace then you probably haven't even found the right line yet ( unless it's nords, but divide by 10 there & you get your equivalency I think ). I agree that is not the time to be fiddling with setups unless something is *really* broken. If you're down to a consistent 1-1.5s for a medium length track then I think you need to start feeling comfortable if something is consistently not working though.

But hey, that lap I posted for comments was only slightly off the stock setup - tyre pressure & rear wing I think was it because over a race the tyre pressures were getting off, and it didn't need all the wing - one reason I picked that lap ( the other one was a deliberately more obscure track/car combo so people would look at my driving rather than have preconcieved notions ). If you look at the way it's hopping around though it could definitely do with some work.

 

[RasmusP]

If you're 5s off pace then you probably haven't even found the right line yet ( unless it's nords, but divide by 10 there & you get your equivalency I think ). I agree that is not the time to be fiddling with setups unless something is *really* broken. If you're down to a consistent 1-1.5s for a medium length track then I think you need to start feeling comfortable if something is consistently not working though.

But hey, that lap I posted for comments was only slightly off the stock setup - tyre pressure & rear wing I think was it because over a race the tyre pressures were getting off, and it didn't need all the wing - one reason I picked that lap. If you look at the way it's hopping around though it could definitely do with some work.

Your video is with a mod-car though and without saying anything negative about it, I 100% trust the default setups from Kunos.
From my engineering studies I also know that it's extremely difficult to 'really' build a setup. Especially springs+dampers are a nightmare!

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Don't forget ARBs also! I was an engineering student too for a while I've also done some professional work in the consumer-grade sim area, so I'm kinda aware of sim limitations too ( not with cars though ).

Added reasons for that track/car combo after you quoted I think. That particular mod I will trust too ( there's very few I'll trust to get near on physics let alone setup tbh ) given it's background. The setup wasn't really relevant though or even the car - much like the OP I didn't want to know how to go faster with that track/car combo, but what I'm doing badly in general.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Didn't really want to double post, but I did a few laps in the Maser at Brands.

Done maybe 3 laps in that car there before & I'm not very good at Brands yet, so generally quite rough.

Let's point out the obvious mistakes I can see:

* Paddock felt underwhelming - 4th was an experiment which I probably won't repeat
* Locked tyre into Druids so I overshot slightly - however that doesn't really cost much time if you can haul the car round enough to get accelerating fast
* Missed the apex at Westfield - probably 2/10ths
* Lost the back end out of Dingle Dell - 3/10ths just for that from the dash delta
* Clark Curve felt bad, but I don't know how to go round there.

Fully default setup other than taking a few litres out - it's pretty nice in default conditions for a few laps, but handling feels like it goes off after not many laps, and it's also not so good in different temperatures. I would not force someone to ignore tyre pressures, personally, even if the rest of the setup has to stay.

However even for a rough lap it was a 1:31.9, so a nice comparison for the OP.