improving driving

[Adam Gough]

whats the best way to improve your driving skills is it just practice? joined a server last night for some online racing i was about 8 seconds off the pace, it was really good fun pushing myself. hope to join everyone on a dedicated server soon

 

[Andrej Svajger]

Well, on top of everything that's been said, you could also attend Assetto Corsa: Premium Driver Academy this Thursday. Since you have Premium membership already, you're just a click away from joining. 90 minutes of going over basics and exchanging knowledge with Bram, who will also be supervising the "execution of lessons learned". Two seats still available.

 

[Boby Kim]

@Andrej Svajger

Well, on top of everything that's been said, you could also attend Assetto Corsa: Premium Driver Academy this Thursday. Since you have Premium membership already, you're just a click away from joining. 90 minutes of going over basics and exchanging knowledge with Bram, who will also be supervising the "execution of lessons learned". Two seats still available.

Thanks for the headsup, i really appreciate. Just asked for a place on the list. See ya Thursday

 

[Turk]

It's amazing how you'll improve with time. I just went back to try the mclaren gt3 around imola for the upcoming race and I was 1.5s faster than the last time I tried the combination (which would have been a few months ago). I got that improved time while going around fairly casually to see how long the soft tyres last. I was just trying to put in consistent laps rather than set the fastest time.

I think aiming for consistency is more important than trying to be fast. Going off the track ruins your flow, if you just aim to put in fast but laps beyond your limit laps, speed automatically follows. For me at least it seems to work. Distractions like lap times and deltas don't matter as much because they don't apply when trying to be consistent.

 

[Brandon Wright]

To those posters above I did understand how the techniques should be applied, but they didn't help me. Analysing my driving or comparing myself to other drivers works for me, and you learn more about a car or track every time you drive.
The problem I have, is that videos and articles on driving faster are produced with no knowledge of the mistakes you're making.
There is, I think, a placebo effect when reading or watching techniques. Perhaps in an effort to go faster you analyse yourself, change things and concentrate more. However if you're faster it wasn't anything you watched or read that made you faster, you helped yourself.
I guess If you're a beginner and you don't know about being setting up a car, being smooth, traction circles, weight transfer, etc it would be a good idea to learn that stuff.

Without the Skip Barber video I'm not sure I would have ever fully realized the benefit of good exit speed. The video does such a good job of illustrating how a better exit speed pays off at the end of a straight and why the mantra "slow in, fast out" is so important. It took a while to make the technique second-nature, but that single thing made me faster than anything else. Before the video I was diving into turns full speed and thus getting a lousy exit and lousy top speed at the end of a straight, so effectively the video did show me what I was doing wrong and how to correct it, and it made a huge difference.

 

[Gpruitt54]

On the subject on going faster... What percentage of going faster a component of knowing how to setup the sim car's engine, suspension, breaking, etc. Personally, I don't know anything about setting up a sim car, I am a recreational racer who really likes these sim racing titles.

 

[Brandon Wright]

On the subject on going faster... What percentage of going faster a component of knowing how to setup the sim car's engine, suspension, breaking, etc. Personally, I don't know anything about setting up a sim car, I am a recreational racer who really likes these sim racing titles.

A wise man (I don't recall who) said something to the effect of "In order to make a car faster, you must first improve the nut behind the wheel (driver)", meaning it doesn't matter how well the car is setup if the driver is rubbish. First, learn the go fast driving techniques, then tinker with the settings to gain those extra few tenths. A good driver can be fast in a car that has a mediocre setup; an unskilled driver will be slow even with the world's best setup.

 

[Vese]

On the subject on going faster... What percentage of going faster a component of knowing how to setup the sim car's engine, suspension, breaking, etc. Personally, I don't know anything about setting up a sim car, I am a recreational racer who really likes these sim racing titles.

Very, very, very, very, very, small percentage until you're already fast in the car. It doesn't matter how good the setup is if you can't drive the car, I usually don't touch setup or only make minor changes until I feel pretty fast.

 

[Gpruitt54]

Yes Sensei, wise words indeed. So, when I do my first online race, and get my lunch eaten, I will take this wise advice to heart.

 

[Gpruitt54]

But seriously, there has to some part of the car setup that can help even the most novice of sim racers.
Yes/No. For example, I changed the camber by 1 or 2 degrees in Forza on Xbox 360, and it made all the difference. For me, that small change worked with my drive style. So in this case the setup helped, as a result, I was faster than I would have been otherwise.

 

[Joao Alves]

But seriously, there has to some part of the car setup that can help even the most novice of sim racers.
Yes/No. For example, I changed the camber by 1 or 2 degrees in Forza on Xbox 360, and it made all the difference. For me, that small change worked with my drive style. So in this case the setup helped, as a result, I was faster than I would have been otherwise.

Very few cars in AC need setup changes to be driveable. For the most part you need to worry yourself with being smooth and accurate in your driving, and once you can run the same fast lap over and over, then move on to setups. And I can't stress it enough- Be smooth, smooth, and did I mention smooth? When I finally stopped driving sloppily with rough inputs, I could watch as the time disappeared lap by lap. That's my own opinion, at least...

And changing your camber by 1-2 whole degrees is a MASSIVE change. And in AC is too much to just do. You'll most likely end up ruining the car by doing that in AC. Comparing your setups in Forza to AC isn't the best way to go about it.

 

[Nino Scholz]

Is it just me or is the raceline in AC really wonky at the moment? I turned it on for a lap or 2 but found it be really off (again, could just be me I'm no Andretti at the moment) - mainly with braking/accel points so i've gone back to practicing without it.

The Video was quite helpful by the way. Looking forward to applying some of it. They also explained overtaking etiquette nicely.

 

[Radu Oros]

Is it just me or is the raceline in AC really wonky at the moment? I turned it on for a lap or 2 but found it be really off (again, could just be me I'm no Andretti at the moment) - mainly with braking/accel points so i've gone back to practicing without it.

The Video was quite helpful by the way. Looking forward to applying some of it. They also explained overtaking etiquette nicely.

The race line is not dynamic, so the braking points are different between cars. If you want to use the visual racing line, only use it as a guide for the ideal track line to follow. Then you adjust the braking to the car and your style.

 

[Nino Scholz]

^^^ Radu thank you, you confirmed my initial suspicions.

 

[Boby Kim]

I always start practise with standard setup. During practise after hundered laps or so i can pinpoint track situations were it is easy to spin the car and thus loosing consistency. To avoid that from happening, i try to change some very basic setup parameters so that particular situation wont ruin my flow. If it means it makes me, say half a second slower per lap (i overreact) , over 30 laps it is 15 seconds. Still i will choose for being slower and 100 % consistent than fast and spinning off track. The most places i gain during a race are people spun off track. They are a lot faster than me, but not consistent. First be consistent, fast laps follow automaticly...
Do not try to bend a spoon...that's impossible.

 

[Connor Caple]

Do not try to bend a spoon...that's impossible.

I agree, good lap times do, in the end, come down to how many laps you put in. Once you really know the track, then you can adjust to it and even tune the car if you have a degree in Black Magic...

 

[Boby Kim]

You just destroyed my whole philosophy of life