My thoughts about the forum and the community

[BhZ]

Lately i've been particularly active on this forum and i took part to many discussions. One in particular got my attention. It was about the fact that fast drivers don't help rookies during practice. I think it's true, but at the same time i think many rookies don't even ask. I raced a lot recently on RD and i think i remember just one question in something like 8 races: "what wings are you guys running?". That was the only question that someone asked during practice. This got me thinking about the community and the forum and i noticed that the majority of the posts here on RD are about peripheral issues, graphical issues, news, random stuff. Now, in a simracing forum i'd expect more questions about cars, tracks, driving tecnique...Asking question in a 30 minutes practice just before the race won't make you a better driver for the simple reason that if you are not already a great driver, 30 minutes are barely enough to stay on track and possibly find good braking points. What will make you a better driver is to ask question on the forum, get an answer to it and apply in an offline session what you just learned until it becomes natural.
Everyone is free to do whatever he wants and race every night with a different car in a different track, but my advice is to take at least half of the days you'd race to just choose a car and a track and practice. Push the car, be curious about where is the limit of it. That is the only way to actually improve. Racing every day doesn't give you the time to get confidence with a car or a track, so you will improve, but at a much slower speed and you won't have time to work on the setup, because it's useless to work on the setup if you still have to find the limit of the car.
So my request is as follows: Ask about anything related to a car or track here on the forum, even if it's a stupid question, there are people here ready to help.
I also have a suggestion for the RD staff: In order to improve the quality of racing on RD, it would be cool in my opinion to have nights where instead of racing, you guys set up a server with a car and a track (possibly a combo that will be used in the next RD event) where people can sign up (like in a normal race) and practice for a couple of hours. So you have some sort of "practice event" where people willing to improve can learn more and where hopefully some of the fast guys (which usually practice a lot) will come as well and help.
Just to be sure, since english is not my first language, i want to specify that this is just my opinion and advice to try to improve the quality of driving. Let me know what are your thoughts about it and if you have other ideas that could make this forum a better place.

 

[Bobby Pennington]

Will you gimme your setup I'm sorry. I had to............I'm 52, but behave like I'm 16 mate

 

[RasmusP]

Will you gimme your setup I'm sorry. I had to............I'm 52, but behave like I'm 16 mate

You gimme the feeling of being really mature and adult with my 25 years

 

[Bobby Pennington]

You gimme the feeling of being really mature and adult with my 25 years

Thanks mate

 

[Kek700]

Audi TT cup Nurburgring GP 30/06/2017 assetto corsa rookie class.

Fixed setup

Speed across start/ finish line = SF

Speed half way down long straight = SHS

Minimum corner speed = MCS

Minimum corner entry speed = MES

Speed in KPH

These are my speeds, Rupe Wilson was in front and we did a similar time.

I'll leave you to work out were each measurement was taken on the track.

I cannot comment on " ping, accuracy of, playback , software foibles, etc etc "

There are bound to be small errors it is a very laborious task running this in slow motion.

I did not time the whole lap of each person, but i have done it before so i must assume it will tally.


Yes i know i am slow on the last chicane, i find it difficult to smash the car over the

Curbs there. It is not that i cannot do it , i just have this weird sense of caring about

The car i am in.


I hope this shows how almost impossible it is to really come to grips with why someone is quicker, i think it is just magic.

If anyone has a conclusion to all this please inform us all, i more than happy to admit i am stll
Totally baffled.


This stops people focusing in on setup as the total answer to lap times, these are
Fixed setup cars, just tyre pressure, also you have to use "paddle shift" gearbox

People use manual box, going from 5th into neutral then at the right moment select
3rd gear allowing them clean 100% braking, so we can discount that.

These results both come from the last lap.


I'll leave Rasmus to sort out understeer.....

Sorry if it does not come out propely when i dinally post it.




Ew ( 2min 11.43 sec ). Fastest driver ( 2min 09.75 seconds )


SF 162. 154

SHS. 204. 195

MES. 213. 210

MCS. 71. 58

MES. 116. 109

MCS. 105. 104

MES. 145. 138

MCS. 76. 68

MES. 99. 95

MCS. 99. 95

MES. 178. 175

MCS. 130. 124

MES. 138. 128

MCS. 94. 89

SHS. 195. 183

MES. 200. 192

MCS. 84. 75

MES. 161. 160

MCS. 159. 159

MES. 192. 194

MCS. 113. 112

MES. 136. 133

MCS. 119. 112

SHS. 196. 194

MES. 205. 212 (no not a mistake)

MCH. 82. 100. This is the final chicane

MCH. 81. 79. Very difficult to access.

MES. 136. 140

MCS. 95. 90

SF. 160. 154

I am of on holiday.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Seeing that RD Staff is agreeing with you and your statements that;
First you need have talent to be a fast driver
Second have the time and stamina do practice a lot
Third have the brains to understand how and why to make setups
to even participate in Club Races, I am so sorry that I misunderstood all this.

As I neither have the talent skill, stamina or brains to be a real pro as you are I suppose I should stay offline, atleast away from Club races so I don't ruin your fun.

None of that is even remotely accurate. I'm virtually talent-less, I never do any practice at all, I couldn't setup a car if my life depended on it, yet I do 2-3 club races each week (and usually do fairly decent).

 

[Lars Rystedt]

None of that is even remotely accurate. I'm virtually talent-less, I never do any practice at all, I couldn't setup a car if my life depended on it, yet I do 2-3 club races each week (and usually do fairly decent).

Cool, then you atleast must have some talent. I just spent 2,5 hour on Vallelunga in the TT just to find out that I cannot do it better than 1,47-1,49 with an occasional 1,46 but that so seldom that I put that as a pure luck.
So except for now knowing that I already reached my limit unless some divine intervention, I now have a rumbling headache and a feeling that there is no use trying any more. This is as good as I get and it is not good enough.
I came to RD not to win races, I came for the community, not to be more isolated than I am, to learn, to ask questions (but I dare not to, afraid to be considered lazy and incompetent), to race with others for fun.

I haven't got the slighest knowledge or understanding of the technics of a car, it has never been an interest of mine. If it's broken there's workshops who make a living of fixing broken cars. So, perhaps I was hoping for to much

 

[RasmusP]

Cool, then you atleast must have some talent. I just spent 2,5 hour on Vallelunga in the TT just to find out that I cannot do it better than 1,47-1,49 with an occasional 1,46 but that so seldom that I put that as a pure luck.
So except for now knowing that I already reached my limit unless some divine intervention, I now have a rumbling headache and a feeling that there is no use trying any more. This is as good as I get and it is not good enough.
I came to RD not to win races, I came for the community, not to be more isolated than I am, to learn, to ask questions (but I dare not to, afraid to be considered lazy and incompetent), to race with others for fun.

I haven't got the slighest knowledge or understanding of the technics of a car, it has never been an interest of mine. If it's broken there's workshops who make a living of fixing broken cars. So, perhaps I was hoping for to much

Lars please don't let these thoughts go too deep.
You are readings things into this posts that I can understand, but that are not true.
Are you racing today? Because BhZ is not and I am.
No one will call you lazy, and we clearly don't agree on that you are getting called lazy and I don't think that BhZ meant kind guys like you when talking about being lazy.

If you really think that racedepartment is the wrong place for you I will personally change that! I did train a bit on the server yesterday with 2 other guys. Lap times between 1:44:3xx and 1:46:5xx.
And I did everything that was told me in my Audi TT thread!
If you want (and if you don't want to ) I will look at you tonight at practice and give you advice, the right psi, brake bias etc. I don't care about my laptimes but I care about people like you!

 

[Lars Rystedt]

Lars please don't let these thoughts go too deep.
You are readings things into this posts that I can understand, but that are not true.
Are you racing today? Because BhZ is not and I am.
No one will call you lazy, and we clearly don't agree on that you are getting called lazy and I don't think that BhZ meant kind guys like you when talking about being lazy.

If you really think that racedepartment is the wrong place for you I will personally change that! I did train a bit on the server yesterday with 2 other guys. Lap times between 1:44:3xx and 1:46:5xx.
And I did everything that was told me in my Audi TT thread!
If you want (and if you don't want to ) I will look at you tonight at practice and give you advice, the right psi, brake bias etc. I don't care about my laptimes but I care about people like you!

Thank you Rasmus, I will rest a bit and see if I can get my headache away maybe then

 

[BhZ]

Cool, then you atleast must have some talent. I just spent 2,5 hour on Vallelunga in the TT just to find out that I cannot do it better than 1,47-1,49 with an occasional 1,46 but that so seldom that I put that as a pure luck.
So except for now knowing that I already reached my limit unless some divine intervention, I now have a rumbling headache and a feeling that there is no use trying any more. This is as good as I get and it is not good enough.
I came to RD not to win races, I came for the community, not to be more isolated than I am, to learn, to ask questions (but I dare not to, afraid to be considered lazy and incompetent), to race with others for fun.

I haven't got the slighest knowledge or understanding of the technics of a car, it has never been an interest of mine. If it's broken there's workshops who make a living of fixing broken cars. So, perhaps I was hoping for to much

I think you did the right thing but you had one thought that is what stops you. Yes, you practiced for this event and that's great, but don't expect to become competitive so quickly. Practice will also help you in the long run. So even if now you are not as fast as the top guys at the moment, you'll get closer and closer until you reach your limit.

I was like you. I knew nothing about cars(still dont for the most part), setups... After some time i started looking for info about it here on rd and on youtube. I read many guides and started trying to work on the setup. At first it was a total failure but with some time something clicked and i understood some things.
Don't surrender so quickly, you'll improve with time.

 

[Kek700]

Lars i am quite often running behind you in these club events, you drive ok more than good enough,
I never mind getting into a battle with you, you have never hit me, and sometimes i am quite happy follwing you and waiting for another go at trying to overtake.
1:46 1:47 is quite ok to get a good placing, instead of trying to go quicker, just try and be smooth and not
come off, thats worth 10 places. Sometimes your lucky and make a lot of
Places, sometime your not, the important thing is train to be smooth and consistant,

 

[Brandon Wright]

Cool, then you atleast must have some talent. I just spent 2,5 hour on Vallelunga in the TT just to find out that I cannot do it better than 1,47-1,49 with an occasional 1,46 but that so seldom that I put that as a pure luck.

In our race on Monday with that combo I believe most of the times were in the 1:44-1:47 range so you're really not much off the pace at all. And I'm sure a couple of the guys would have been happy to watch your lap and give you some pointers to help shave another second off. But, you'll never know until you come join us, and then you'll have a lot of fun and want to keep coming back which will help you improve even more!

 

[RasmusP]

@Lars Rystedt and to go a bit back to topic:
This is exactly what BhZ wanted to say. He wants us (RD community) to tell those things here in the forum. Not when practice started.
So I now know that you might come back to me in practice and I will make sure to have the time to spare

 

[Bobby Pennington]

Now this is constructive. THANK YOU guys

@Lars Rystedt I can send you my setup and it may let you make that last little bit of time up. You are so in the ballpark mate. Just let me know.

 

[Glaurung]

Now this is constructive. THANK YOU guys Just a friendly reminder, we are not supposed to post lap times here at RD but I understand for supportive, demonstrative and encouraging purposes

You can't discuss of laptimes only in the event threads, no restrictions outside that area.

 

[Bobby Pennington]

You can't discuss of laptimes only in the event threads, no restrictions outside that area.

Noted and fixed. Thank you.

 

[Lars Rystedt]

@RasmusP I did follow the advices from your thread of understeering, though it gave me some more rotation it did not fo much if anything for my laptime. I did not only practice yesterday, I did the day before, the day before that and the day before that. I do practice almost every day, I really do and thats why I am quite sure I now reached my limit.
After seeing the results from yesterday I figure I would, in a best case scenario, have be behind with 45 seconds to the last. Last man on grid did 1,45 with a +98% consistency, my very best was 1,46 two times in 2,5 hour and my average was 1,47-48 so atleast 1-2 seconds slower on every lap.
I haven't looked at my past races like this, I was just happy to be there, but there is no reason to believe that any would have been any better than the example above.

 

[Slalom823]

Just to add my two cents on the topic here are a few of my thoughts. I personally really like to learn, study and improve myself, but I also really enjoy helping others. I used to coach competitive water skiers and have instructed some drivers at both real life and sim situations. I also like being coaches and instructed by others and I do ask others for help.

I think many of the faster drivers share similar thoughts. Real life and sim I would expect most of the top guys are always trying to learn and improve. So I would guess that many of the fast drivers would be happy to help others if they are also willing to put forth some effort. However I think Bhz is saying that he would prefer helping others learn and improve over just sending a setup. Sometimes I think racing drivers real or sim may, just may possibly have a tiny ego and may think we already know enough, are as fast as the faster person, or that it is just the setup that makes the difference in speed. The other day I was on a server a day before a club race and I was somewhat quick. One other driver came on and I was several seconds faster. I asked if they wanted me to send my setup and/or if they wanted to follow me on track. They were only interested in the setup, but were still about 3-4 seconds behind. I imagine I could have helped them drop another second or so, they weren't interested. I think that is the type of thing that Bhz was referring to, where someone isn't interested in information or learning but just wants a magic setup.

Anyways my encouragement is that chances are the fast drivers would be happy to help people work on getting faster, so don't be afraid to ask. This spring I reached out to the fastest driver I know of on RD to ask if be would be willing to help coach me. He said yes, and we worked together and I learned. I then ended up having another good result in the championship I recently participated in.

 

[RasmusP]

@Lars Rystedt

@RasmusP I did follow the advices from your thread of understeering, though it gave me some more rotation it did not fo much if anything for my laptime. I did not only practice yesterday, I did the day before, the day before that and the day before that. I do practice almost every day, I really do and thats why I am quite sure I now reached my limit.
After seeing the results from yesterday I figure I would, in a best case scenario, have be behind with 45 seconds to the last. Last man on grid did 1,45 with a +98% consistency, my very best was 1,46 two times in 2,5 hour and my average was 1,47-48 so atleast 1-2 seconds slower on every lap.
I haven't looked at my past races like this, I was just happy to be there, but there is no reason to believe that any would have been any better than the example above.

I don't think offline practicing on your own will get you fast in a short time. I did drive almost 2 years pCars Nordschleife on my own. Got quite fast and thought "hah, in the Rookie Race I will go top ten!".
Well... I qualified as 21 of 24 drivers.... But I am quite good at analyzing things, watched the replays and tried to do that. I get faster but I am not getting faster quickly!

I think you need some faster driver to watch your driving, letting you drive behind him, giving advice and show you how to do certain things.
Did you take part in Brams driver academy?

I can only say: I got more than a second faster in the race just because I drove behind a really fast guy!

@Slalom823 thanks for your input. I agree with you 100% and it feels like BhZ started as the first of many really fast guys who are "crawling out of the fast-zone" in our Threads to happily help. I would like to see you around and someday getting coached by you

As BhZ said: I think that we could need more threads were we are actually talking about the driving. To have a place / places where we share our thoughts to give the practice session kind of a "base to talk about".

 

[Lars Rystedt]

@Lars Rystedt

I don't think offline practicing on your own will get you fast in a short time. I did drive almost 2 years pCars Nordschleife on my own. Got quite fast and thought "hah, in the Rookie Race I will go top ten!".
Well... I qualified as 21 of 24 drivers.... But I am quite good at analyzing things, watched the replays and tried to do that. I get faster but I am not getting faster quickly!

I think you need some faster driver to watch your driving, letting you drive behind him, giving advice and show you how to do certain things.
Did you take part in Brams driver academy?

I can only say: I got more than a second faster in the race just because I drove behind a really fast guy!

@Slalom823 thanks for your input. I agree with you 100% and it feels like BhZ started as the first of many really fast guys who are "crawling out of the fast-zone" in our Threads to happily help. I would like to see you around and someday getting coached by you

As BhZ said: I think that we could need more threads were we are actually talking about the driving. To have a place / places where we share our thoughts to give the practice session kind of a "base to talk about".

I dont practice at all offline, I learned that at the beginning that there are to much differences between off- and online servers, input lag, settings etc. So only online practice= Check
Yes I did participate in Bram's academy, which made me in I believe safer, more confident and faster. Though faster do not equal fast, I am still slow. So academy= Check

As for asking about help, I try not to do that to much or to advanced that needs a long and is time consuming to explain. So my questions is for most of the type that can be answered with a yes or no. Many questions is still often met with silence, either dont understood, missed or busy and then forgotten. I am not offended by not getting an answer but I won't repeat it, and then I forget my own question.
When I am on the server and someone else pops in I dont jump at him or her to help me, that one is there on their own time to practice, not to teach me. Their time is precious and I do not feel I have the right to ask them to give me that.
Also, I cannot ask for help that is in any sense conditional, that is, I cannot promise that I will practice 4 hours every day, or 1 hour this day.. or even what happens in the next 15 minutes.
But now everything change, it's now race for lalp times and positions and less for a fun time. I am not sure anymore if club races is so much for me, I will practice the Mazda for tomorrow, then I'll see

 

[BhZ]

But now everything change, it's now race for lalp times and positions and less for a fun time. I am not sure anymore if club races is so much for me, I will practice the Mazda for tomorrow, then I'll see

Nothing changed. If practicing spoil your fun, don't practice. Everyone is free to do whatever he wants. No one will judge you for that. A race is always about laptimes and position but that doesn't mean you can't have fun.