Please help me improve my driving.

[Piotr Dul]

So i practice currently at Imola for GT3 race and my best lap time so far was just a little bit under 1.47 in Nissan GT-R. I don't have much of expierience but I know i'm still making mistakes it's just i'm not sure where to look for those mistakes. Can you guys watch a video provided from my practice which shows my best lap and give me some feedback where I can improve? I'm using Logitech G27 with modded pedals (Nixim spring mod). The steering rotation is set up to 540 deg. both in the profiler and in the game. I'm using just a slightly modified standard setup for GT-R with soft tires.
Any feedback, any tip, any advise counts

 

[Neilski]

the speed at which the power curve drops off is a major factor in when to hold a gear to the rev limiter

Yup, and that's exactly the calculation that Sidekick performs for you in real time

I downloaded and now regularly use Sidekick after you recommended it during of the MX-5 Cup races. Am I right in saying that when the shift light turns yellow you're in the peak power band and you should ideally shift before it turns red? I've left mine at the default settings but I've been more of less shifting when the light turns yellow so perhaps I'm shifting too soon as well...

Well, I think you probably are indeed shifting too soon, though only by a very small amount. I can't remember how low the default values are for yellow and red lights when optimal shifting is both switched on and available, maybe 96ish for red? But yeah, the best way to have the lights set up depends on preference and also somewhat on the car - this is because if a car has a power peak just before or at the redline, you can easily hit the limiter before you notice the red shift light. In a car like the MX-5, holding a shift a wee bit too long is not such a concern, as the redline is miles above the shift point in 4th and 5th (likely 3rd too).
If yellow is set to come on at 94% by default (like I say, I can't recall) and you shift the instant it comes on, then you'll be shifting into a gear where you'll have 6% less power than you had in the current gear, and thus 6% less acceleration, but since that shift is probably only a second or two early, the impact is pretty limited... (I posted acceleration curves on either this forum or the AC one a few months back for the MX-5 Cup showing the impact of optimal vs. redline shifts.)
Personally, I think I tweaked the red light to something like 99%. This means it'll come on when the power in the next gear up reaches 99% of the power in the current gear. You might argue that it's OK to use 100% in a car where you KNOW that the important shift points are way below the limiter. Btw, not sure why the defaults are set so low, so it's always possible that I've missed something Maybe @Topuz thinks that people are really slow at shifting and wants them to have plenty of time to notice the light

 

[Kek700]

Re-read your article on this again. ( "Topuz" sidekick in AC ) , very interesting.
It is funny how an old previously read article becomes more interesting with
6 months more experience.
It now makes sidekick more useful than it already is to me.

 

[Deleted member 387850]

Thanks for the info Neil, very helpful! I'd assumed by default it turned yellow when the car was at peak power and therefore when it turned red the power was dropping off. I'll do some playing around with the thresholds to get it where I like it!

I also recently mapped two buttons on my G29 to trigger ALT + A/ALT + S in the Logitech Gaming Software. Means I can easily move between each of the sections in Sidekick and cycle through them mid race, so I was able to get rid of a few apps I usually had cluttering my screen. I love it, will have to throw a donation the developers way!