Problems driving

Tim Ling

It's a million-to-1 chance, but it just might work
After a few more races, I think I've narrowed down my problems with race driving to 3 main issues.

1. Steering. I've noticed I'm not turning the wheel enough. A lot of this maybe due to me only being able to use one hand, but I need to be aware of it in race.

2. Braking. Last night at Albi I lost over 2 seconds a lap from my pb, and I'm sure it was down to braking. Being too scared of out braking myself, I braked early. I also have no idea how to trail brake, so any suggestions on how to learn this are appreciated.

3. Nerves. This is the biggest problem I think. On an empty track I'm not so bad. I'm slow, but I stay on the track (mostly). Add AI into the mix and I fall off the track more as I start to try and push too hard.
But a race against real people? The tension is far higher. So many thimgs crowd into my head.

Be careful, dont hit anyone! You went faster than that in practice. Will I be able to keep up this time?? Be careful, dont hit anyone! Going to be last again. No, I'm not, not this time!

My muscles tighten up (not good with my right arm the way it is :(), my breathing gets quicker, the adrenaline floods my system.
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one like this!:disapointed:

It's with the nerves that I think most people have a problem, in one way or another. Peoples focus becomes very fixed, normally on the car directly in front of them, so that car coming up the inside gets missed by the peripheral vision and hit by the driver. People push that bit harder, brake that bit later.

Maybe the first thing we need to learn is not how to drive fast, but how to driver with real people on the track. Trying this against AI doesn't work. It's predictable and too forceful. You can only learn this against people.

An idea. Arrange a friendly race in rF on a track with lots of grid slots, but make it a fairly small track. Make it a multiclass race, Lupo's and Golf GTI's maybe, experienced people in the Lupo's. Turn the damage down to 50% to let people continue racing after an accident. Remind everyone of the RD rules and race.
In doing this you get a crowded race track, which is something I personally haven't experienced much, as I always end up on my own (and normally last). We would get used to have cars around us, forcing us to be careful and patient when trying to pass.
If we're used to this, we won't get so nervous, we won't tighten up so much, we won't get so fixated and we'll all race better and with more consideration.

Or that could be complete crap:clap:

**EDIT** Sorry this was meant to be in Generral Sim Racing, doh!
 
Hi Tim,

1: Try to adjust the steering lock in the car setup (set it to 16.0 degrees or even higher
2: Pay attention to the signs/trees or whatever when you approach the braking zone. Try to memorize those points. You can also use the tarmac (usually the tarmac is darker when you enter the braking zone). Practice practice and practice...
3:Be sure that your virtual mirror is on. Just anticipate to the other drivers but stay focussed on your braking points.

Good luck!

After a few more races, I think I've narrowed down my problems with race driving to 3 main issues.

1. Steering. I've noticed I'm not turning the wheel enough. A lot of this maybe due to me only being able to use one hand, but I need to be aware of it in race.

2. Braking. Last night at Albi I lost over 2 seconds a lap from my pb, and I'm sure it was down to braking. Being too scared of out braking myself, I braked early. I also have no idea how to trail brake, so any suggestions on how to learn this are appreciated.

3. Nerves. This is the biggest problem I think. On an empty track I'm not so bad. I'm slow, but I stay on the track (mostly). Add AI into the mix and I fall off the track more as I start to try and push too hard.
But a race against real people? The tension is far higher. So many thimgs crowd into my head.

Be careful, dont hit anyone! You went faster than that in practice. Will I be able to keep up this time?? Be careful, dont hit anyone! Going to be last again. No, I'm not, not this time!

My muscles tighten up (not good with my right arm the way it is :(), my breathing gets quicker, the adrenaline floods my system.
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one like this!:disapointed:

It's with the nerves that I think most people have a problem, in one way or another. Peoples focus becomes very fixed, normally on the car directly in front of them, so that car coming up the inside gets missed by the peripheral vision and hit by the driver. People push that bit harder, brake that bit later.

Maybe the first thing we need to learn is not how to drive fast, but how to driver with real people on the track. Trying this against AI doesn't work. It's predictable and too forceful. You can only learn this against people.

An idea. Arrange a friendly race in rF on a track with lots of grid slots, but make it a fairly small track. Make it a multiclass race, Lupo's and Golf GTI's maybe, experienced people in the Lupo's. Turn the damage down to 50% to let people continue racing after an accident. Remind everyone of the RD rules and race.
In doing this you get a crowded race track, which is something I personally haven't experienced much, as I always end up on my own (and normally last). We would get used to have cars around us, forcing us to be careful and patient when trying to pass.
If we're used to this, we won't get so nervous, we won't tighten up so much, we won't get so fixated and we'll all race better and with more consideration.

Or that could be complete crap:clap:

**EDIT** Sorry this was meant to be in Generral Sim Racing, doh!
 
My muscles tighten up (not good with my right arm the way it is ), my breathing gets quicker, the adrenaline floods my system.
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one like this!

i get that. i just put it down to the game doing exactly what it should do. make you feel like you would in the heat of battle on a race track. practice is the only thing that can reduce it i think. being more at ease and more automatic in how you drive around other racers.

i think it might help if we had more races on the standard international type circuits as peopple know these better and are more comfortable with them due to the large amount of hours they drive/have driven them. this might also count towards the other hot topic at the moment.
 
3. Nerves. This is the biggest problem I think. On an empty track I'm not so bad. I'm slow, but I stay on the track (mostly). Add AI into the mix and I fall off the track more as I start to try and push too hard.
But a race against real people? The tension is far higher. So many thimgs crowd into my head.

This is defiently my biggest problem. I am allways better in races offline then races online. I blame my inexperience and i think/hope i will be able to manage it better the more races i do. I've only done onilne 3 races so far and i've felt small improvements everytime. Even though it sacks my performance the stress, nervousness and tension plays a big part in making this so fantastically fun :)
 
Tim Ling said:
1. Steering. I've noticed I'm not turning the wheel enough. A lot of this maybe due to me only being able to use one hand, but I need to be aware of it in race.
Easy enough to fix, but if you set the lock too high, you'll be running the risk of putting on too much lock and scrubbing the tyres out. Try it just going a little slower, then try faster again with more lock, and see how the tyres hold up. If the tyres don't get the arse ripped out of them, it was probably just not enough lock.

Tim Ling said:
My muscles tighten up (not good with my right arm the way it is :(), my breathing gets quicker, the adrenaline floods my system.
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one like this!:disapointed:
No, you're not the only one, but would you want that feeling of excitement to go away? I wouldn't, personally.

I actually suggested a "slow" lads series as a potential training tool in the Mod forum, and it seemed to be generally well accepted in concept, so you never know.

Slow lads was just shorthand, because "Getting used to driving with others and learning the accepted practices series" just isn't that snappy. :D
 
I actually suggested a "slow" lads series as a potential training tool in the Mod forum, and it seemed to be generally well accepted in concept, so you never know.

Slow lads was just shorthand, because "Getting used to driving with others and learning the accepted practices series" just isn't that snappy. :D

LOL! "Slow lad" fits me in too many ways :p

This is why I thought a race in rF with 60+ racers would be good, though maybe the car choice needs a little thought. The Golfs are easy to drive for the slow lads, but maybe Lupos would a bit too slow in comparison.
If we could get 100 racers at Bathurst for an hour it would be fun and instructive I think. Or maybe I'm just being slow again:quiet:
 
For the stearing the stearing lock setting is definitively helpful. I increased mine actually to 30 (Mini 28 as it is the maxmum). Put it seems to depend on many factors and personal preferences. There is somewhere a dedicated thread around that with a reference to some external tutorial.

Braking and the feeling: Drive as many races as you can. But never loose that fear as I think you would become a careless driver und would be banned from the club pretty soon :D.

I actually find it easier to learn driving with the slower cars, in GTRe the Mini. While I was putting in training laps for Vairano, I actually was thinking it is a good track for trying the trail braking, as there are many corners which you can enter quite fast but you need to hit the apex slow.

I would never consider myself an expert on that one, my learning curve is still point nearly straight to the stars, but I am recognizing that there is progress.

So the answer is; Racing, racing, racing (there are always enough people like you and me) and never give up a race even when you have been laped 20 times, there are still people on the track.
 
  • Kyrill Verheij

3. Nerves. This is the biggest problem I think. On an empty track I'm not so bad. I'm slow, but I stay on the track (mostly). Add AI into the mix and I fall off the track more as I start to try and push too hard.
But a race against real people? The tension is far higher. So many thimgs crowd into my head.

I got this also so much! I played Wednesday in an event for the first time! and i qualifyd me for nr 1!!! I was shaking like hell and I sayd :p and actualy at the start I started briljant, but I had such a lot nervers that I forgot to brake and im not focussing on the track. I just crashed and was ending so bad. I didnt even made 10 min of the whole race. At the practice and cool and driving well. At the qualify I had building everytime much more nevers and FINALY I finished at the qualify good, FIRST PLACE!! but disapointed about the race, still :pissed-off:

A couple years ago I was also ( racing ) on ice called short tracking.. [media]http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=gKP2IpjUxpo&feature=related[/media]
At the start I was shacking like hell, I mean serious look that youtube film, how fast is that going!! And I was falling on that ice like 1 or 2 times a race :(

How can I get my nervers under control, cause its hard, for me :(
 
After a few more races, I think I've narrowed down my problems with race driving to 3 main issues.

1. Steering. I've noticed I'm not turning the wheel enough. A lot of this maybe due to me only being able to use one hand, but I need to be aware of it in race.

As others have said try adjusting the steering lock a bit at a time until it feels right.

2. Braking. Last night at Albi I lost over 2 seconds a lap from my pb, and I'm sure it was down to braking. Being too scared of out braking myself, I braked early. I also have no idea how to trail brake, so any suggestions on how to learn this are appreciated..

I am probably the earliest braker in the world, I have tried braking late like others but just get smashed in the walls so while i brake early in races i still try to learn other techniques offline, one day they will come good for me.

3. Nerves. This is the biggest problem I think. On an empty track I'm not so bad. I'm slow, but I stay on the track (mostly). Add AI into the mix and I fall off the track more as I start to try and push too hard.
But a race against real people? The tension is far higher. So many thimgs crowd into my head.

Be careful, dont hit anyone! You went faster than that in practice. Will I be able to keep up this time?? Be careful, dont hit anyone! Going to be last again. No, I'm not, not this time!

My muscles tighten up (not good with my right arm the way it is :(), my breathing gets quicker, the adrenaline floods my system.
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one like this!:disapointed:

It's with the nerves that I think most people have a problem, in one way or another. Peoples focus becomes very fixed, normally on the car directly in front of them, so that car coming up the inside gets missed by the peripheral vision and hit by the driver. People push that bit harder, brake that bit later

Nerves don`t really bother me in races, i am there to enjoy, so if someone catches me fairly quickly i tend to let them pass by backing off a bit, no need to cause a crash and ruin both races. Although, i do get worried at times, missing a brake point etc, that i may take someone out through lack of concentration.

As for the thought you may be last again, who cares? I feel like a winner every time i finish, whether i am last or not, if i have driven well, to my ability and cleanly.


I really do think a server for slower people and new members with a few experts to teach techniques would be of benefit to all. It would make the "learners " better drivers and as such would help the experts get cleaner races.
 
i find that my fastest laps come when i hardly turn the wheel at all! i try to keep smooth on all the controls!with regards to braking points use trackside objects because then u will be consistent!to calm your nerves dont look behind! just focus on going forward and just try to concentrate on driving quickly! if u start driving defensivly ur lap times will slow considerably allowing the opposition to get past u easier! at the same time thogh u dont want to leave lots of space so just see what works for you.i definately agree that the adrenaline rush is much higher online tho!
 
  • rafa28

Tim, i personally don't get that nervous anymore. But i still feel tense at times. In fact, there isn't a single lap of the Nordschleife on wich i don't get tense. Especially when i feel like i'm starting to lose control. But immediately(mostly anyway) i have the answer for it. And the answer is: Absorb the tension, feel it, let it flow inside you and keep yourself calm. I know it seems like a contradiction, but it's what works for me. And, of course, technique and experience play a big role on this. Don't worry, we've all been there. You'll improve a lot with time and practice, you'll be surprised how easy it will become for you, trust me.
 

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